October 27, 2021
Kentucky Man Suing TSA over Masks Asks
Court to Remove Him from Terrorist Watchlist
Motion for Injunction Argues TSA Illegally
Retaliated by Declaring Flyer a Security Threat
Oct. 27, 2021
By LUCAS WALL
CINCINNATI, Ohio – A Kentucky frequent flyer filed an emergency motion for injunction this morning asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit to order the Transportation Security Administration to remove him from its terrorist watchlist, which the agency apparently placed him on after he and three Ohioans petitioned for review last week of the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate.
The Court of Appeals immediately ordered TSA to file a response no later than 10 a.m. Thursday. Michael Faris’ next flight for his job is Saturday. His motion asks the court for a ruling by Friday.
“TSA’s action placing Mr. Faris … on its terrorist watchlist for filing this lawsuit challenging the FTMM represents the absolute worst form of vengeance against citizens exercising our First Amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” according to the court filing. “Suing TSA does not constitute a threat of terrorism nor any other risk to transportation security that warrants placement on the watchlist.”
Two days after filing a petition for review of TSA’s mask orders Oct. 19, Faris, a helicopter maintenance supervisor, had trouble checking in for his Oct. 21 flight home to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, from a work assignment near Ontario, California. After numerous phone calls, United Airlines finally issued Faris boarding passes marked with “SSSS,” meaning “Secondary Security Screening Selection.” Agents told Faris this meant he had likely be placed on a terrorist watchlist. He is medically exempt by a neurologist from wearing a mask, but airlines have consistently refused to grant him an exception because of the FTMM.
Faris and his three fellow petitioners demand “an injunction mandating that Respondent Transportation Security Administration immediately remove Petitioner Michael Faris from its terrorist watchlist and/or any other database flagging him for Secondary Security Screening Selection” and an order “compelling TSA to disclose to petitioners and the Court within five days whether it has placed Petitioners Charity Anderson, Angela Byrd, and Michael Clark on its terrorist watchlist and/or any other database flagging them for SSSS.” They also ask the court to direct TSA to show cause why it should not be sanctioned and/or held in contempt.
“By retaliating against Mr. Faris and perhaps the other petitioners in this case, TSA violates our First Amendment right to petition,” the motion states. “Taking such serious an action as placing petitioner(s) on a terrorist watchlist for doing nothing more than challenging TSA’s orders in this legal proceeding in-fringes on this Court’s authority to protect litigants from reprisal by the Executive Branch.”
Byrd attempted to check in online for a Delta Air Lines flight Oct. 26. She received a strange message that “We’re sorry. We can’t validate your ticket.” Fearing she too had been placed on the terrorist watchlist by TSA in retaliation for filing the lawsuit, she canceled her trip as she did not want to arrive at the airport only to be informed Delta would not check her in due to her possible SSSS status.
Anderson has booked a work trip in the near future on Southwest Airlines. Her partner, Clark, and her three children are have plane tickets to tag along. Anderson and Clark also fear they have been blacklisted by TSA in retribution for filing this lawsuit.
It took United agents a long time on the phone to check Faris in for his Oct. 21 flight out of Ontario, during which a TSA officer responded to the counter. He was then escorted to the security checkpoint, where he showed his mask-exemption letter from his physician. TSA officer Steven Pointer and supervisor Ramona Baker reluctantly allowed Faris into the screening area without a face covering.
TSA then put him through the lengthy SSSS process. During the extended search, he was patted down for more than five minutes and every item was removed from his carry-on bag. TSA officers even swabbed inside his wallet.
Three TSA officers walked Faris to the gate, where United was holding the airplane bound for Denver for him. A United agent told him he had to put on a mask before stepping into the jetway, ignoring his medical exemption. While walking down the jetbridge, Faris, who suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, had a panic attack and fainted, collapsing to the floor. His elbow and knee were bruised.
United closed the boarding door said Faris could not fly because of his fainting episode. He rebooked with American Airlines, who refused to check him in after he asserted his Americans with Disabilities right not to wear a mask in public areas of a taxpayer-funded airport. An American agent called the police on Faris for asserting his legal right to be free of discrimination.
Faris is part of a group of 13 disabled flyers and a former flight attendant from nine states and the District of Columbia who filed six lawsuits Oct. 19 around the country charging TSA with exceeding its legal authority by continuing to extend a requirement that all public-transportation passengers don face masks.
“TSA’s function is limited by law to address security threats. Congress has never given the agency power to regulate the public health and welfare,” the petitioners argue. “Wearing face masks has nothing whatsoever to do with transportation security.”
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