Transportation Security Administration - Protecting our rights... by restricting yours!

OAKLAND, California - August 26, 2008 - A female airline passenger stood up for women everywhere who have felt violated by Transportation Safety Administration searches when she told officials her constitutional rights prevented them from touching her breasts and scrutinizing her bra.

Nancy Kates of Berkeley, California, followed the security routine at Oakland International Airport this past Sunday. She was willing to remove shoes and belts, open electronics and transport liquid hygiene items in 3-ounce bottles. Kates cooperated when her underwire bra set off a metal detector and a female agent used a sensitive wand to search her body, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

However, the inspection soon became uncomfortable.

"The woman touched my breast. I said, 'You can't do that,'" said Kates. "She said, 'We have to pat you down.' I said, 'You can't treat me as a criminal for wearing a bra.'"

Kates immediately asked to see the TSA supervisor who said it is very common for underwire bras to set off the alarm. She told him the metal detector was too sensitive and said the Constitution protects her from unreasonable search and seizure - including bra scrutinizing.

The supervisor informed the buxom woman she would be required to submit to a private pat down in another room, or she would not be allowed to fly. According to the Chronicle, Kates instead offered to remove her bra and walk through the detector once more.

"They tried to humiliate me and I was not going to be humiliated over this," she said. "If I was carrying nail clippers and forgot about them, I wouldn't have gotten so upset. But here I was just wearing my underwear."

Kates entered a restroom and took her undergarment off. She then stood in the security line and walked through the metal detector without triggering an alarm.

But TSA authorities were not done yet. They searched her carry-on bags.

After a 40-minute ordeal, Kates missed her flight and was four hours late getting from San Francisco to Boston.

"It's actually a little funny in a way, but a sad, sad commentary on the state of our country," Kates told the Chronicle. "This is bigger than just me. There are 150 million women in America, and this could happen to any of them."

A TSA spokesman denied knowledge of the incident when the newspaper contacted him. However, he said in all cases, "we have to resolve an alarm. Unfortunately, we can't take a passenger's word for it."

The spokesman said, "We do everything we can to ensure that a passenger doesn't feel humiliated."