PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Portland-based federal judge has dismissed a challenge to the U.S. government’s “no-fly list,” saying she lacks authority to hear the case.
U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said Wednesday that the lawsuit filed last June by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a Portland imam and 14 other people must be heard by an appeals court.
Brown wrote that Congress has mandated that U.S. Transportation Security Administration orders can be reviewed only at the appeals court level. The lawsuit names the heads of the federal Justice Department, Terrorist Screening Center and FBI but not the TSA. Still, Brown found the TSA is an “indispensable party.”
The lawsuit alleges the 15 people have been unconstitutionally barred from air travel. “No-fly” is a list of people considered a threat to aviation.
