EDITORIAL – Show ID; don’t break secret airport rules

John Gilmore wants a reason for showing identification before boarding an airplane. But the… John Gilmore wants a reason for showing identification before boarding an airplane. But the U.S. government thinks those reasons should be kept a secret.

Gilmore first sued the U.S. government and several airlines in July 2002 after airline agents wouldn’t let him board planes in San Francisco and Oakland, Ca., without first showing identification or agreeing to being thoroughly searched. He claimed the identification requirement was vague and ineffective, and it violated his constitutional protections against illegal searches and seizures.

A U.S. District Court judge dismissed his case earlier this year, but told Gilmore his dispute with the government should be taken up in a federal appellate court. Now, before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Gilmore argues that the federal government has yet to disclose the regulations behind the identification requirement.

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the appellate court to keep its arguments secret for this case. It wants its own private judicial review. It does not even want Gilmore or his attorneys to hear the case.

Rather than confirming Gilmore’s reasons for being suspicious of government regulations, the Department of Justice needs to use this as an opportunity to inform the public of more specific reasons why identification requirements and security checks are necessary — especially before boarding airplanes.

The government argues that the regulations are in place for security reasons, and the request for a secret judicial review for the secret laws are also for security. But by being so secretive, the government looks rather suspect. It really wouldn’t be such a horrible thing if people knew what type of identification is preferred or what some of the regulations concerning identification and luggage searches were.

As one of Gilmore’s attorneys points out, “How are people supposed to follow laws if they don’t know what they are?”

But most people do follow the rules. They show identification. They submit to being searched. They are OK with the idea that these types of safety measures are necessary for knowing who is on a plane and what has been brought onto it.

The government doesn’t appear to have any real reason for trying to hide its justification for the identification requirement. And if there are real reasons, it is going out of its way to ensure no one knows them. Now the government looks as suspicious as Gilmore did for not wanting to show ID.

Unless the government really does have something to hide — like not having any real regulations or having regulations that are a bit shady — there is no reason to keep the public in the dark about their own safety.