Another Enemy of the People?

I remember awhile ago when I heard the story of a Catholic father, or brother, that had a difficult time getting back to his parish on the North Coast of BC, it seems his name was on a US based "Terror Watch List." The thing that made it seem especially scary was that the good Irish Catholic had two, given and surname, really common Irish names. It made me wonder that if Father Dicky Doyle is on the Terror Watch List, how many Dickys get obstructed trying to fly every week. Ask Mehar Arar about the ease of being removed from these watch lists, no matter how you got on it to begin with. Heck, Teddy Kennedy was even on one for long enough to be inconvenienced, but then he is a Democrat, or is that Al Democratahbolla?

The following story linked to in the title shouldn't surprise anyone who hasn't been holed up since before Saddam crawled into the "spider" hole.

From the program in "Law and Public Affairs" at Princeton Universtity's own websitecomes this information and more about Walter Murphy.

Walter F. Murphy, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at Princeton University, is among the most distinguished constitutional scholars of the 20th century. A decade after joining the Princeton faculty, he was named the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, succeeding Woodrow Wilson, Edward S. Corwin and Alpheus T. Mason in one of the nation's most prestigious endowed chairs.

In case you suspect Mr. Murphy is a knee-jerk lefty liberal, I should point out he doesn't think much of Roe V. Wade and actually supported Sam Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court to assist his brother in arms Scalia to bring the level of discourse and decisions there ever downward.

  In Mr. Murphy's own words, as blogged by Mark Graber at Balkinization Here after the fold, Click on Read more, are the difficulties Mr. Murphy had to deal with as an enemy of the people (well maybe the people in the White House). I've added any italics or bolding in the following.

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"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 have a personal stake here, but so do all Americans who take their political system seriously. Thus I hope you and your colleagues will take some positive action to bring the Administration's conduct to the attention of a far larger, and more influential, audience than I could hope to reach. "