The Practical Nomad Update: Ferry passenger searches challenged

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

(((( The Practical Nomad Update: Ferry passenger searches challenged 
))))

                            October 05, 2004


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http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/000417.html



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A "Vermont
commuter":http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041005
/NEWS/410050360/1002 who has been required to submit to warrantless,
suspicionless searches of his car and belongings as a condition of
travel on ferries across Lake Champlain between Vermont and New York
has "filed a Federal
lawsuit":http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/news/3783040/detail.html ,
with the assistance of the Vermont chapter of the ACLU, against the
"Lake Champlain Transportation Co.":http://www.ferries.com/ and the USA
Department of Homeland Security.

I've been on the Lake Champlain ferries.  They are all operated by the
same company, so there is no alternative with a different search
policy.  And, as the lawsuit notes, the alternative to a 10-20 minute
ferry ride is a 2-3 hour drive -- not feasible for a daily commute, or
for a pedestrian or bicyclist.

Meanwhile, the "Washington State
Ferries":http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/ are reportedly planning
"random
searches":http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/192878_ferrysear
ches29.html to begin as early as this weekend.  While the Lake
Champlian ferries are privately operated, the Washington ferries --
overwhelmingly the largest passenger ferry system in the USA --  are
run by the state Department of Transportation, making the
Constitutional violation in the warrantless, suspicionless searches
even more direct.

As all possible modes of transport come to be subject to these sorts of
restrictions, the argument that there tose who don't want to surrender
their other freedoms, in order to exercise their freedom to assemble as
guaranteed in the First Amendment, can simply "choose another mode of
travel", becomes more and more untenable.

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