Abstract
The court determined that the statute under which TSA issued its SSI rules-namely, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA)-did not specifically prohibit MacLean's disclosure; instead, the ATSA "provides only general criteria for withholding information." [...]in the court's view, the "specifically prohibited by law" phrase did not disqualify MacLean for protection under the WPA. [...]the ATSA does not 'specifically prohibit' employee conduct within the meaning of the WPA." Besides their arguments over precedent, statutory text, and legislative history, each side argues that the other side's interpretation, if accepted, would have disastrous consequences. There are probably only a few agencies besides TSA under such statutory compulsion. [...]if the Court accepts DHS's more modest position, its ruling would primarily affect TSA's 60,000 employees.