Court Rules Against Search of Protesters

Fear of a terrorist attack is not sufficient reason for authorities to search people at a protest, a federal appeals court has ruled, saying Sept. 11 “cannot be the day liberty perished.”

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously Friday that protesters may not be required to pass through metal detectors when they gather next month for a rally against a U.S. training academy for Latin American soldiers.

Authorities began using the metal detectors at the annual School of the Americas protest after the 2001 terrorist attacks, but the court found that practice to be unconstitutional.

“We cannot simply suspend or restrict civil liberties until the War on Terror is over, because the War on Terror is unlikely ever to be truly over,” Judge Gerald Tjoflat wrote for the panel. “Sept. 11, 2001, already a day of immeasurable tragedy, cannot be the day liberty perished in this country.”

City officials in Columbus, Ga., contended the searches were needed because of the elevated risk of terrorism, but the court threw out that argument, saying it would “eviscerate the 4th Amendment.”

“In the absence of some reason to believe that international terrorists would target or infiltrate this protest, there is no basis for using Sept. 11 as an excuse for searching the protesters,” the court said.

About 15,000 demonstrators attend the annual vigil, demanding the closing of a school they allege teaches Latin American soldiers to violate the human rights of poor people in their home countries. The facility at Ft. Benning was once known as the School of the Americas, but reopened in January 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

The protests began in 1990. This year’s demonstration is scheduled for Nov. 20-21.

Columbus Mayor Bob Poydasheff said the city would abide by the order but called it “unreasonable.”

“I can’t go into the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals without being scanned and having my briefcase searched,” Poydasheff said. “They have every right to do that, to make sure they’re protected. And I have every right to make sure my police are protected, and the citizens and the other protesters are protected.”

The mayor said the city attorney’s office was considering appealing the ruling to the full 11th Circuit.

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois, a priest who founded the protest group called SOA Watch, praised the ruling for safeguarding essential rights.

“It was not just an inconvenience, it was a nightmare. We couldn’t get to the place of assembly in an orderly fashion,” he said.

Michael Greenberger, law professor and director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Health and Homeland Security, said the ruling could have broader implications if it is used to challenge aspects of the Patriot Act.