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-- OriginalOwner_ [tinyurl.com] writes:

from the due-process-short-circuited dept.

The Intercept reports [theintercept.com]

Baby Doe was 7 months old when his troubles with the U.S. government began. His mother was taking him on a flight when security officials stopped them at an airport. He was patted down and subjected to "chemical testing". His mother's bag was searched. His diapers were examined. Unbeknownst to the family from California, four letters on the infant's boarding pass--"SSSS"--had singled him out as a particularly dangerous class of individual: a "known or suspected terrorist".

The Free Thought Project continues [thefreethoughtproject.com]

"The terrorism watch lists are premised on the false notion that the government can somehow accurately predict whether an innocent American citizen will commit a crime in the future based on religious affiliation or First Amendment activities", said Lena Masri, legal director for the Council of American-Islamic Relations, Michigan, in a statement [cairmichigan.org] released [April 6].

"Our lawsuits challenge the wrongful designation of thousands upon thousands of American Muslims as known or suspected terrorists without due process", she added.

The complaint [courthousenews.com],[PDF] filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, on behalf of 18 plaintiffs, argues that the secret federal watch list consolidated on the government's Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), includes the names of American citizens "based on mere guesses, hunches, and conjecture, and even simply based on matters of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion," and violates their constitutional rights.

The consequences of that designation not only affects people's ability to fly on airplanes, but also obtain licenses, a firearm, a bank account, a visa for relatives, or to wire transfer money, and conduct a normal life, argued the complaint.

Original Submission