(AP) A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a challenge to the constitutionality of the government’s terrorist watchlist, ruling that the government deserves wide latitude in establishing programs designed to protect national security.
A group of two dozen Muslim plaintiffs sued in 2016, saying their placement on the list had caused all kinds of difficulties in traveling and in other aspects of life. And they said the government’s administration of the list gave them no meaningful way to clear their name when they were wrongly placed on the list.
A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2019, but the government appealed.
On Tuesday a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond ruled unanimously in favor of the government.
