Federal Judge Rules Terror Watchlist Violates Constitution By Mairead McArdle
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a government terror watchlist that prevents flagged individuals from flying violated the Constitution.
The No Fly List of “known or suspected terrorists,” which includes over 1 million individuals, violates the constitutional rights of those placed on it, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga ruled.
Twenty-three Muslim U.S. citizens, backed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), had sued, claiming they faced “a range of adverse consequences without a constitutionally adequate remedy” as a result of being placed on the list.
The plaintiffs “have constitutionally protected liberty interests that are implicated by their inclusion” on the watchlist, Trenga wrote, adding that the Department of Homeland Security process through which an individual could challenge their inclusion on the list “is not constitutionally adequate to protect those liberty interests.”
“There is no evidence, or contention, that any of these plaintiffs satisfy the definition of a known terrorist,” Trenga said, adding that the behavior qualifying someone as a “suspected terrorist” is too broad.
“CAIR has a half-dozen other watchlist cases pending in federal courts across the country, and this opinion will pave the wave for our continued victories,” CAIR national litigation director Lena Masri said in a statement. “Today’s opinion is a victory for the more than one hundred American Muslims we represent and for the thousands of American Muslims who are currently stigmatized by the watchlist.”
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