The email for this alert was deactivated after panel of judges ruled that watchlist is constitutional and reversed lowered court.

The Associated Press reports in part:   (GOOD NEWS)   A panel of federal appellate judges expressed concerns about ordering wholesale changes to a government watchlist of roughly 1 million individuals labeled as “known or suspected terrorists,” despite a lower court finding that the list was constitutionally flawed.  J. Harvie Wilkinson questioned whether the judiciary branch was able or qualified to require revisions to a program that the government insists is vital to national security.  “We’re being asked to take a highly sensitive and, as far as I know, important program ... and devise a remedy with unknown consequences,” Wilkinson said. “We would be wading into deep, treacherous and uncharted waters here.”

Government lawyers have insisted the program is vital to national security. They said in court papers that the government uses the database to help determine whether to place air marshals on certain flights, for example. They also emphasized that while the list has been known to contain more than 1 million names at times, fewer than 5,000 of those people are U.S. citizens.

(MORE GOOD NEWS)  All three judges who heard the case are GOP appointees — Wilkinson was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan and the other two were appointed by former President Donald Trump.

A ruling is expecting in several weeks.

The three judges assigned to the panel are Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Judge Julius N. Richardson and Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr.

History.

CAIR sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on April 5, 2016 on behalf of 23 Muslims.  The lawsuit challenged the validity of the Terror Screening Database (TSDB), the official name for the terror watch  list  that is used by law enforcement and the private sector to protect millions of Americans and the citizens of several other countries from terrorism.  Florida Family Association sent out several email alerts over a period of several years that asked people to send emails to urge Judge Trenga to make public safety the priority and not abolish the entire Terror Screening Database.   Judge Trenga received more than 13,000 emails.

US District Judge Anthony Trenga issued a ruling on December 27, 2019 that VALIDATED the Department of Homeland Security Terror Screening Database (TSDB) and did NOT extend his September 4, 2019 order to give relief to unnamed plaintiffs including more than a million non-Americans on the list.  Read Florida Family Association’s full report.   Therefore, the DHS Terror Watchlist is still active and being used by thousands of government and business officials throughout the world.  That is why CAIR continues to call for the Terror Watchlist to be dismantled.

While the judge did not rule the entire list unconstitutional he did order DHS to refine its procedures to comply with his standard of “due process” for adding and removing names to the TSDB.  The judge  “ORDERED that Defendants submit to the Court the information and revised procedures identified in its Order dated December 27, 2019 [Doc. No. 3481 within ninety (90) days of the date of this Order, and to the extent the Defendants contend that this information and revised procedures should be placed, in whole or in part, under seal or submitted ex parte or in camera.”

DHS appealed Judge Trenga’s ruling and order to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Florida Family Association sent out an email alert that asked people to send emails to encourage all judges serving on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to preserve as much of the Terror Screening Database as possible for the safety of the American people.

Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to send to urge the three judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to make public safety and national security the priority in Anas Elhady v. Charles Kable. 

The email for this alert was deactivated after panel of judges ruled that watchlist is constitutional and reversed lowered court.