Tampa Seems To Have Support In Appeal To Reinstate Pat-Downs

TSA Hopes To Resume Pat-Downs Next Season At Raymond James Stadium

The Tampa Sports Authority (TSA) called pat-down searches at NFL games at Raymond James Stadium “an essential layer of security in an age of terrorism and urged a federal appeals court Tuesday to reinstate them,” according to Curt Anderson of the AP. The U.S. Justice Department has sided with the TSA, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Cohn said, “NFL games are attractive terrorist targets. There’s no constitutional right to watch a football game live.” John Goldsmith, attorney for Gordon Johnston, who won a lawsuit against the pat-downs last year, “argued that Johnston never gave his consent for the searches and that the general threat of terrorism does not justify broad pat-downs without specific cause for concern.” Goldsmith: “There has to be some concrete and real danger.” But Anderson wrote at least two of the three judges on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel “appeared sympathetic to the searches.” Attorneys noted that Tampa is the “only NFL city where the pat-downs have been successfully challenged, although lawsuits have also been brought” in Chicago, Seattle and S.F. (AP, 4/17).

UPGRADES: In Ft. Lauderdale, Alex Marvez writes Raymond James Stadium is “expected to get $2.1[M] in improvements to prepare for the 2009 Super Bowl.” One of the “more notable additions” would be 1,100 HDTVs around the stadium (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 4/18).