(File Photo of the Transportation Security Administration Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A federal judge heard arguments in a class action lawsuit that Rebecca Brown is part of yesterday in Pittsburgh. Brown is a party to the suit and she claims the TSA stopped her at Pittsburgh International Airport and the Drug Enforcement Agency confiscated $82,000 from her as she was heading from Pittsburgh to Boston in the summer of 2019. Brown states that the money was her father’s life savings, but those who took the cash thought it was money from a crime. According to Dan Alban with the Institute for Justice, which represents the plaintiffs: “We think there is no dispute of material facts that the TSA unlawfully and unconstitutionally stops and seizes travelers with cash at the airport, even though it admits it poses no threat to transportation security.” Alban also notes that the problem with this is that while there are suggestions, there are also no guidelines when it comes to how much money is considered suspicious. Attorneys for the government confirm that the agents were working within their guidelines and asked the suit to be dismissed and they declined any comment on the proceedings yesterday.