1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Is a TSA Screener a “Law Enforcement Officer”? Court Allows Lawsuit Against United States to Proceed November 19, 2019 According to a complaint that air traveler Nadine Pellegrino filed in 2009 against th
2、e United States in federal court, several Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) working for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) detained Pellegrino, damaged her property, and fabricated criminal charges against her after she attempted to pass through a security checkpoint at Philadelp
3、hia International Airport in 2006. In relevant part, Pellegrinos complaint demanded monetary compensation from the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). After a divided panel of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Third Circuit) initially ruled that one
4、of the FTCAs provisions barred Pellegrino from pursuing her claims, the Third Circuit voted to rehear the case as a full court. Then, last August, a majority of the participating judges concludedcontrary to the panels determinationthat Pellegrinos suit could proceed. The Pellegrino case is noteworth
