REAL IDReal ID Is Useless, Unconstitutional, and Finally Here
At its core, the mentality behind REAL ID is that every American is a potential airline terrorist first and a citizen of the Republic a very distant second. Among other problems, a REAL ID requirement potentially creates an end-run around direct regulation of the right to travel. REAL ID obliterates the idea of freedom of travel, which is why it should be abolished.
It’s been 20 years since Congress passed one of the most onerous, useless and constitutionally dubious pieces of legislation in modern history. The so-called REAL ID Act comes into force today[7 May 2025], and if your driver’s license isn’t REAL ID-compliant and you don’t have some other form of government-approved identity card, you won’t be able to board a domestic flight unless you’re willing to go through as-yet unspecified extra steps.
At its core, the mentality behind REAL ID is that every American is a potential airline terrorist first and a citizen of the Republic a very distant second. Who do we have to thank for this terrible idea? The 9/11 Commission. In fact, it was one of its core recommendations.
As the commission noted in its final July 2004 report, “All but one of the 9/11 hijackers acquired some form of U.S. identification document, some by fraud. Acquisition of these forms of identification would have assisted them in boarding commercial flights, renting cars, and other necessary activities.”
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Among other problems, a REAL ID requirement potentially creates an end-run around direct regulation of the right to travel.
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In response, the commission recommended that the federal government “should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as drivers licenses.” The report noted: “Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft. At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.”
But that entire notion is refuted by the fact that the most effective last-ditch protection against bad actors among the public boarding an aircraft is physical screening of the passengers and their luggage.
I’m not aware of a single post‑9/11 incident in which an actual terrorist —such as the so-called shoe bomber or the “underwear bomber” — boarded an aircraft with a fake ID. Yet those two made it aboard aircraft with explosive or incendiary devices that could’ve brought down the planes they were on and killed all aboard. TSA’s struggle with passenger screening technologies and procedures is well-known and represents a far bigger safety issue than determining who is boarding a given aircraft.
Indeed, years before REAL ID became law, the federal government used secret directives to airlines to prevent travelers from boarding airliners unless they presented identification.
