[crazygringo]

Sure. But it's not "pretend". It's genuine regulatory policy they've created because they believe it's necessary for security, and this has been a decades-long project. The article is arguing they don't ultimately have the legal authority to make that regulatory policy. Maybe that'll go to court and be tested, maybe they'll win and maybe they'll lose. If they lose, maybe Congress will pass explicit legislative authorization the next day, and maybe that'll be brought to court, and the Supreme Court will have to decide if it violates the 14th amendment or not. But it's not "fake work", it's actually doing a thing.

[ehasbrouck]

No, it's not "regulatory policy". It's been done entirely with some combination of secret "Security Directives" and "rulemaking by press release". As the article and the linked references explain, the TSA never issued any regulations, published any of the required notices, or obtained any of the approvals that would have been required even if Congress had passed an (unconstitutional) authorizing statute (which it didn't).

[Spooky23]

No. Policy or regulation would have a basis in law. This administration has aptly demonstrated their contempt for the law. Nobody gives a shit about some grunt federal employee getting extra work.

This is just a way to compel compliance and to push the agenda for ID with higher documentary requirements, ultimately to deny the vote.

[nobody9999]

As I mentioned[0] a few months ago after the TSA announced the $45 "fee":

   ...The courts have repeatedly struck down limits on domestic travel over the 
   past couple hundred years.

   In fact, the $45 "fee" is an acknowledgment that you aren't required to have 
   special documents to travel within the US. Otherwise, they just wouldn't let 
   you travel.

   So instead, they're making more security theater and punishing you if you 
   don't comply with their demands...

And now the birds are coming home to roost. No real surprise there, IMHO.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46128346

[forgetfreeman]

I mean I could hire someone to continuously dig and refill the a hole in the ground. That would certainly be them doing a thing, but it would also definitely be fake work. There's been plenty of rhetoric thrown around but no real evidence has been produced that suggests the TSA isn't engaging in a bit of circular digging at the taxpayer's expense with this.

[throwaway7783]

Ah, digging holes and refilling them - that'd be literally the NREGA program in India