A Bivens claim will not lie where “any alternative, existing process for protecting the interest amounts to a convincing reason for the Judicial Branch to refrain from providing a new and freestanding remedy in damages.” Defendant points to three alternative remedial processes, arguing that they foreclose a Bivens remedy here. The Court disagrees. Indeed, the Court has little difficulty concluding that the alternatives suggested by Defendant are no alternatives at all.

Defendant first argues that the availability of claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) counsels against implying a Bivens remedy here. But as Defendant acknowledges, the Supreme Court has squarely held that the FTCA does not provide an alternative remedial process bearing on the availability of a Bivens remedy. …

Defendant next argues that “if Plaintiff wished to challenge TSA’s pat-down screening procedures as applied to him by Officer Polson as a violation of the Fourth Amendment, he could have filed a petition for review of those procedures in an appropriate court of appeals pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 46110.” Plaintiff does not, however, seek “review” of TSA procedures or any “order issued by” an aviation authority. … Rather, Plaintiff challenges a discrete instance of abuse not authorized by the TSA — to wit, Defendant’s alleged use of excessive force in intentionally and gratuitously striking Plaintiff’s groin. Plaintiff seeks compensation for a past wrong, not prospective relief from considered agency action. The statute Defendant cites is simply inapplicable to the case at bar.

Finally, Defendant argues that Plaintiff may seek redress through the TSA’s “Contact Center,” which “passengers and others may use in order to register their complaints and concerns via phone, email, or internet submission form.” Judging by Defendant’s description, this is, essentially, a consumer complaint hotline. It is not clear what, if any, relief a complainant may receive. It appears that the “Contact Center” affords individuals only the bare opportunity to make the TSA aware of a complaint. At that point, the TSA will unilaterally direct the complaint to the “correct TSA recipient … for additional consideration and, if deemed necessary, action.”

This meager opportunity is not the sort of alternative process that provides a “convincing reason for the Judicial Branch to refrain from providing a new and freestanding remedy in damages.” …

Defendant argues that special factors are presented here because this case implicates national security. While the Court agrees that appreciable national security concerns would, if raised, preclude a Bivens remedy here, Defendant does not adequately explain how this case presents such concerns.

As an initial matter, the Court notes that Defendant consistently and erroneously refers to this case as arising in the “national security context.” This conflates two distinct aspects of the Bivens analysis. A “context,” for purposes of implying a Bivens remedy, is a relatively narrow set of circumstances and legal issues. The relevant context here is a TSA officer’s alleged use of excessive force during an airport security screening. “National security” is a high-level description of a special factor that might arise and counsel hesitation in this context, not a context unto itself.

Defendant’s Motion does little to tie specific national security concerns to the context under consideration. Rather, it rests primarily upon generalizations about the sui generis nature of the airport setting. Defendant is correct that Courts have consistently recognized airports as loci of special security concerns. But that does not mean generic national security concerns bar any constitutional claim arising at an airport. The question is not whether airports present special security concerns — they do — but whether those concerns have any particular bearing on the context at issue in this case. …

Defendant does not cite, and the Court cannot see, any other reason why national security concerns would counsel hesitation to imply a Bivens remedy here. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant employed excessive force during a security screening, deliberately and gratuitously striking Plaintiff in the groin. This is not conduct that the TSA has deemed necessary, or even desirable, to protect national security. Indeed, the TSA expressly forbids its officers to engage in such behavior. …