The ever expanding police power of the national government has been an issue dating at least to Prohibtion and arguably to Reconstruction. Also, the US Attorney's letter was heavy handed and is a thinly veiled bluff. The legislation wouldn't have taken effect until 9/1/2011 with plenty of time to get a stay of its enforcement from a federal judge. Additionally the TSA & US Attorney are bluffing because Texas could very easily get an injunction (in Federal court) to block the TSA from this action while this issue was being litigated.
That said...I have posted from the beginning that this bill was a bad idea. It is a clear violation of the supremacy clause of the US constitution. Some may pine for the days of the Republic and the Confederacy (I don't), but the bill would have accomplished nothing since it was going to be struck down anyway. I think the TSA pat downs are ridiculous and open to challenge on 4th amendment grounds, but it is established precedent that States may not interfere with Federal officials performing constitutionally authorized duties. If you want to argue that pat downs are not constitutional, you have to fight it at the Federal level on 4th amendment grounds or maybe 10th amendment grounds (i.e. Argue Feds are not authorized to regulate the security of air travel...that's a tough sell, especially interstate).
Now we've taken "precious" legislative time to mess with this, that could have been spent on Campus Carry or Parking Lot Bill....I mean goodness, we barely sneaked Noodling through...
