MLFA’s Civil Litigation Department Continues Its Clients’ Fights Against Watchlist Placement and Lack of Due Process
Since the creation of the Civil Litigation department in 2017, our attorneys have consistently challenged No Fly and Watchlist placement on behalf of our clients. We’ve celebrated the good news of telling more than a dozen clients they are no longer on the No Fly list after enlisting our help, and we look forward to many more successful days like that.
And we’ve made in-roads in courts across the country that chip away at the government’s use of the Terrorist Watchlist:
- The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recognized a plaintiff’s legitimate interest in the act of flying, for both business and religious travel needs, and not just the arrival at a destination;
- The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals called out the government’s “heartless argument” requiring plaintiffs to fly again and risk repeated injury before learning whether they remain on a watchlist’
- The D.C. Circuit also recognized our plaintiff had standing to bring suit without needing explicit confirmation the government was withholding of placement on the watchlist;
- The Ninth Circuit remanded one of our cases and insisted the government provide more detailed information on which agencies had conducted searches of what devices of our client; and
- In many matters we have brought under the Freedom of Information Act, we succeed in getting documents regarding our clients even when it takes multiple asks and up to two years to get a substantive response.
And we see our cases, and our clients, through to the end. That’s why today’s denial by the Supreme Court of our Petition for Certiorari on behalf of the Jibril family members certainly does sting. But, we remain proud of our work in that case over the past six years, where since 2018 we guided the claims through the administrative process, trial court level, appeal to the D.C. Circuit, back on remand and once again to the D.C. Circuit on appeal before filing our Petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hear what the attorneys working the case have to say about today’s ruling:
“We will continue to attack the government’s entitlement to secrecy when it infringes on our clients’ constitutional rights to travel freely,” promised Civil Litigation Senior Staff Attorney Chelsea Glover. “The U.S. government owes its citizens an honest explanation when it subjects them to harassment and cruelty at the airport – ‘national security’ does not provide a shield.”
“While disappointed in today’s ruling, we have been honored to represent the Jibril family over the years,” reflected Civil Litigation Department Head Christina Jump. “We remain proud of the progress we made at the D.C. Circuit level, and that multiple levels of courts called out the government’s ‘heartless arguments’ and ‘sick sense of delight’ in withholding information from our clients for years that the government possessed the entire time. Today’s ruling in no way ends our work; we continue to fight in federal courts across the country against the murkiness of the Terrorist Watchlist and its lack of due process, from D.C. to Illinois to Oregon and several in between. Every case is a step, and every step leads to progress.”
See the link below/attached PDF for Law360’s article on our case:
Breaking News: Justices Refuse to … PDF
