US no-fly list process is ruled unconstitutional

A federal judge has ruled that the current process for managing the federal no-fly list is unconstitutional. In her ruling, Judge Anna Brown called the DHS TRIP system “wholly ineffective,” making it nearly impossible for the plaintiffs in the case to challenge the evidence that had placed them on the no-fly list and effectively barred them from air travel in the US. As a result, Brown concluded that the process did not meet the standard for due process, and was unconstitutional in its current form.

The lawsuit comes after four years of legal wrangling by thirteen Portland-based plaintiffs, the first of whom was refused boarding in 2010. With legal help from the American Civil Liberties Union, the group pressed their case through two earlier trials, only to arrive at their first definitive ruling today. The Department of Justice is expected to appeal the ruling, with the next stage of the trial taking shape in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.