Jason Edward Harrington, a former TSA agent in Chicago, has written a scathing critique of the TSA, perhaps the most despised and bloated government bureaucracy since the Soviet era. Here is an excerpt:

Once, in 2008, I had to confiscate a bottle of alcohol from a group of Marines coming home from Afghanistan. It was celebration champagne intended for one of the men in the group—a young, decorated soldier. He was in a wheelchair, both legs lost to an I.E.D., and it fell to me to tell this kid who would never walk again that his homecoming champagne had to be taken away in the name of national security.

Assuming that this sad and sorry tale is true (*), prior probability sees not only another petty act of public tyranny; we also see a government-sponsored taking of private property without just compensation in complete violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Where is Richard Epstein when you need him?

(*) According to Mr Harrington’s own account, the soldiers were returning from the theatre of war (not departing), so why would the TSA have to confiscate their liquids? Or were they in transit to another airport?