Airport searches: getting our priorities right

From Boston.com's On Liberty blog:

As we end the year with another period of hectic holiday travel, one thing that is being subjected to more indignities at the airport than our scanned and groped bodies is the US Constitution.

Remember the Fourth Amendment? It is supposed to protect you from unreasonable searches and seizures. It is the source of our expectation of privacy, and the notion that law-abiding people have a right to be left alone.

In the past, courts have said that airport screening is constitutional so long as it is 'reasonable'--and searches are reasonable if they are minimally intrusive given the threat they are designed to prevent, and are well tailored to protect privacy.