PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. government deprived 13 people on its no-fly list of their constitutional right to travel and gave them no adequate way to challenge their placement on the list, a federal judge said Tuesday in the nation’s first ruling finding the no-fly list redress procedures unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown’s decision says the procedures lack a meaningful mechanism for people to challenge their placement on the list.
Thirteen people challenged their placement on the list in 2010.
Initially, Brown said she couldn’t rule on the case. In 2012, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision and sent the case back to her.
Since much of the information used for placement is classified, Brown said, the government should provide people on the list the nature and extent of the classified information, the type of threat they pose to national security, and how they can respond to the charges.