Today's per curiam decision from the Ninth Circuit seems clearly correct.
Congress said that the TSA can establish qualifications for TSA screeners at airports and fire them "notwithstanding any other provision of law." Plaintiff says that the TSA violated the Rehabilitation Act when it fired her because she was disabled.
Sorry. The statute means what it says. That's why the Ninth Circuit affirms the dismissal of plaintiff's lawsuit, and why all the other circuits to address the issue have gone the exact same way.
I'll nonetheless note for the record that this statutory breadth seems profoundly unjust. Plaintiff says she can't do the "normal" TSA jobs since she's disabled, but is nonetheless fully capable of working in one of those "cushy" TSA positions as an "exit lane" or "bypass door" monitor.. Seems right to me. If we indeed have such positions (and we do), I see no reason why someone in a wheelchair or whatever can't staff those things perfectly competently.
