Judge Rules Terrorism Watchlist Violates Constitutional Rights
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that a federal government database that compiles people deemed to be known or suspected terrorists violates the rights of American citizens who are added to the watchlist, calling into question the constitutionality of a major tool the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security use for screening potential terrorism suspects.
Being on the watchlist can keep people off planes, block them from entering the country, subject them to greater scrutiny by the police and deny them government benefits and contracts. More than a million people are on the list, which is maintained by the F.B.I.s Terrorism Screening Center.
Although the vast majority of the people on the list are foreigners abroad, several thousand are American citizens who are protected by the Constitution. Among them, a group of 19, represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filed a lawsuit charging that their inclusion violated their due-process rights.
In a 32-page opinion, Judge Anthony J. Trenga of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia agreed. He granted the plaintiffs summary judgment, although he stopped short of saying what should happen next, asking the Justice Department and the lawyers for the plaintiffs to submit briefings on that topic.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/us/politics/terrorism-watchlist-constitution.html
LINK TO THE RULING (PDF)
Politicub
(12,165 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,449 posts)Marengo
(3,477 posts)Quackers
(2,256 posts)Marengo
(3,477 posts)kimbutgar
(21,050 posts)sarisataka
(18,483 posts)Should have happened years ago. These lists are a travesty
treestar
(82,383 posts)to get yourself off the list.
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)In Sept. 2014 Obama was the first U.S. president to chair a U.N. Security Council Meeting, its subject Foreign Terrorist Fighters. There Obama led several other world leaders in passing a resolution meant to stem the tide of home-grown Jihadis.
The resolution was detailed in proposals for identifying and prosecuting terrorists. Among proposals was the use of watchlists and other methods of keeping terrorists from flying in and out of countries so as to import and export terrorist activities.
Although keeping watchlists is certainly a system that can and has been politically abused, there is no reason to throw out the baby with the bath water.