ACLU Looking for Plaintiffs for Metro Bag Search Lawsuit

American Civil Liberties Union chapters in the Washington area are looking for passengers who want to challenge Metro's new random bag search policy.

Metro began conducting random inspections of passengers' bags at entrances to rail stations and bus bays in December -- searches ACLU chapters believe are unconstitutional. The executive director of the ACLU of the Nation's Capital, Johnny Barnes, said the organizations are considering filing a lawsuit in federal court in Washington.

The groups are also planning to pass out fliers about the searches and hold a public discussion about them.

Although the ACLU said the Metro system had rebuffed its efforts to meet and had not responded to a letter sent last year, Metro said right after a news conference Thursday that it would, indeed, meet with the ACLU to discuss its concerns.

The ACLU contends that the random bag searches interfere with the privacy rights of citizens in public places, hindering their travel and exposing them to unconstitutional search and seizure.

Similar lawsuits have been unsuccessful in New York and Boston, but the bag searches here are less well planned and more intrusive, Barnes said. Metro, which rejected bag searches in 2008, decided to do them in part to be eligible for $26 million in Homeland Security funds from the federal government.