States continue to resist the federal government’s REAL ID law. The federal government is attempting to strong-arm state governments to comply by stripping rights from citizens of those states.
The federal government ratcheted up its game of chicken with states over REAL ID last month, threatening once again to ban residents of non compliant states from using their driver’s license as ID to clear TSA checkpoints.
On Oct. 13, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent letters to five states denying their request for a time extensions to bring their driver’s licenses in compliance with REAL ID. That means that in 2018, residents of Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maine, Pennsylvania and South Carolina may find themselves on a virtual no-fly list. They will need to have alternate ID, such as a passport, in order to clear TSA screening.
The five states join Minnesota, Missouri and Washington, already under the DHS gun. The agency denied those states extension requests late last year.
In practice, REAL ID coopts the states into creating a national ID system. The federal government has no constitutional authority to mandate such a thing.
The feds resurrect these bully tactics every couple of years, and has done so since Pres. George W. Bush signed REAL ID into law in 2005. Instead of following through on threats the feds simply keep extending their deadlines.
Under the act, all 50 states were supposed comply with the federal law by 2009. But, states rebelled against REAL ID for several reasons, including privacy concerns and the fact that Congress didn’t provide any funding for the mandates it expects states to implement. Some states passed laws expressly prohibiting implementation of the act. To date, 27 states remain non-compliant, nullifying the national ID system in effect.
According to the Washington Times, the DHS letter sent to Kentucky asserted the state “has not committed to meeting all remaining requirements and has not provided adequate justification for continued noncompliance.”