Judge rejects government argument in No Fly List lawsuit

A federal judge has rejected the U.S. government’s effort to invoke its state-secrets privilege to quash a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of its No Fly List.

Government lawyers had argued it would be impossible to adjudicate the case without exposing state secrets about the individual involved and the process used to place people on the list.

Virginia resident Gulet Mohamed filed the suit in 2011 after he was denied boarding on a flight back to the U.S. from Kuwait.

Since that time, the government has changed its procedures and now provides limited explanations to people about why they were placed on the list.

While the judge refused to dismiss Mohamed’s lawsuit, he said he can’t decide whether the new rules are constitutional until Mohamed goes through the revised process.