Airport ID Checks are Constitutional - Jonathan Pryor's web log

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Airport ID Checks are Constitutional

Airport ID checks are constitutional, as is apparently having secret laws that "mere mortals" are unable to read and understand. What you can't know can hurt you.

Slashdot provides coverage, and the standard host of decent comments (I suggest browsing at +5 to save time).

This does raise something I've been pondering for awhile. If "ignorance of the law is no excuse," does the law require that everyone be (a) clairvoyant, and (b) a super-genious? New laws are being created and changed every year (if not more frequently), so it isn't really reasonable to follow laws that you can't reasonably know about. Further, the law is so complex I'm not sure lawyers can keep it all straight. (I've heard that the first amendment of the Constitution now has several large tombs of case law restricting and expanding it, from "don't shout in a crowded theater" to campaign finance reform, and last I heard there were still questions about how political speach and campaign finance laws apply to blogs.)

How anyone is supposed to be able to keep track of all this is beyond me. Perhaps ignorance of some things should be an excuse, or perhaps our legal system needs to be simplified so that it can actually be comprehended.

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