Monday, April 09, 2007

Enemy of the People

Walter F. Murphy, is an emeritus of Princeton University. Murphy is a political liberal, but his work as a distinguished constitutional scholar leads him to hold some opinions not typically deemed liberal. He is a sharp critic of ROE V. WADE, and supported the Alito nomination. But he has been a public critic of the Bush Administration, and via blogger Mark Graber, he relates this experience:
"On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American Airlines to Newark, NJ, to attend an academic conference at Princeton University, designed to focus on my latest scholarly book, Constitutional Democracy, published by Johns Hopkins University Press this past Thanksgiving."

"When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk. At this point, I should note that I am not only the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) but also a retired Marine colonel. I fought in the Korean War as a young lieutenant, was wounded, and decorated for heroism. I remained a professional soldier for more than five years and then accepted a commission as a reserve office, serving for an additional 19 years."

"I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll do it," the man said. "

"After carefully examining my credentials, the clerk asked if he could take them to TSA officials. I agreed. He returned about ten minutes later and said I could have a boarding pass, but added: "I must warn you, they=re going to ransack your luggage." On my return flight, I had no problem with obtaining a boarding pass, but my luggage was "lost." Airlines do lose a lot of luggage and this "loss" could have been a mere coincidence. In light of previous events, however, I'm a tad skeptical."

"I confess to having been furious that any American citizen would be singled out for governmental harassment because he or she criticized any elected official, Democrat or Republican. That harassment is, in and of itself, a flagrant violation not only of the First Amendment but also of our entire scheme of constitutional government. This effort to punish a critic states my lecture's argument far more eloquently and forcefully than I ever could. Further, that an administration headed by two men who had "had other priorities" than to risk their own lives when their turn to fight for their country came up, should brand as a threat to the United States a person who did not run away but stood up and fought for his country and was wounded in battle, goes beyond the outrageous. Although less lethal, it is of the same evil ilk as punishing Ambassador Joseph Wilson for criticizing Bush's false claims by "outing" his wife, Valerie Plaime, thereby putting at risk her life as well as the lives of many people with whom she had had contact as an agent of the CIA. ..."
I hope everyone is finally realizing how dangerous this administration really is.

3 comments:

ProgressiveChurchlady said...

For those who thought we'd never stoop lower as a nation than J. Edgar Hoover's "lists" during the Nixon administration, you've been deluding yourselves!

Anonymous said...

This story sounds highly unlikely, as examined by WIRED News here and here.

liberal pastor said...

A more accurate response to these posts and their comments and this followup post on the blog where his comments were posted is that no one is disputing what the professor experienced, but there is a question about whether it was because of bureaucratic incompetence or because he is really on some list.

The real issue here is what happens when an administration secretly deports and detains suspected terrorists, fires US attorneys for unexplainable reasons, has a system of duplicate computers in the white house so political communications can take place in secret, has a President who routinely executes signing statements that ignore laws passed by congress and signed by him, and the list goes on and on...

Who you going to believe? A distinguished law professor who is widely respected on both sides of the political aisle? Or the conflicting explanations of airline officials? Or anything coming out of the administration? Maybe it was all a misunderstanding, but in the current climate there is ample reason to be suspicious.