That would be the right not to be sued by crazy people who create issues on planes
House Republicans are pushing legislation to protect airline passengers from lawsuits for reporting suspicious behavior that might be linked to a terrorist attack.
Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico Republican, introduced the Protecting Americans Fighting Terrorism Act of 2007 on Thursday, a week after a lawsuit was filed by a group of Muslim imams who were taken off a US Airways flight in November.
It is "unconscionable" that those who report suspicious activity could be "terrorized in our own court system in our own country," Mr. Pearce said on the House floor yesterday afternoon.
The lawsuit asserts that the imams were discriminated against by US Airways, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission and "John Doe" passengers to be named later.
Wasn't it the Democrats who always tell us they are the champions of civil rights? Guess not.
This is an excellent piece of legislation, which, surprisingly, has to be submitted in order to protect Americans from frivilous lawsuit for engaging in free speech when they witness people acting in a manner that is most worrisome. And it isn't just on planes, but in all cases.
The bill is H.R. 1640, which has, at this time, 10 cosponsors, who are, unsurprisingly, all Republicans. It's title is "To provide liability protection for individuals who report suspicious behavior to law enforcement agencies," and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where we will have to wait and see if it dies under Democratic leadership.
