Two civil rights groups
filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority from randomly inspecting passengers' bags,
saying it's an unconstitutional violation of personal privacy. A judge
scheduled an emergency hearing for Tuesday in the case filed by the
National Lawyers Guild and the American Anti-Discrimination Committee.
The random inspections began Thursday, just in time for the Democratic
National Convention this week at Boston's FleetCenter. The policy is
the first of its kind in the country. The groups say the searches
violate the Fourth Amendment because they don't require information
that the person searched is suspected of criminal activity. They've
urged customers not to consent to the searches. "There is no way the
MBTA can implement this policy in a constitutional manner," said
National Lawyers Guild national president Michael Avery. [more]
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