Filed Date: Jan. 27, 2006
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
On January 27, 2006, a Muslim woman, represented by pro bono counsel, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against multiple state and federal agencies, alleging Section 1983 claims, state law tort claims, and several constitutional claims based on the inclusion of her name on government terrorist watchlists, including the No Fly List. The federal government filed a motion to dismiss based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, claiming that jurisdiction to hear the plaintiff''s claims lies exclusively in the U.S. Court of Appeals under 49 U.S.C. § 46110, which gives the U.S. Court of Appeals exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to certain orders of the Transportation Security Administration. On August 16, 2006, the District Court (Judge William Alsup) agreed and held that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the constitutionality, maintenance, and implementation of the No Fly List. Ibrahim v. Dep't of Homeland Sec., No. 06-cv-00545, 2006 WL 2374645 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 16, 2006).
The plaintiff appealed the District Court's decision. On August 18, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. In an opinion by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, the Ninth Circuit held that the District Court had original subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiff's claim for injunctive relief regarding inclusion of her name on the No Fly List. The Ninth Circuit agreed that the District Court, however, lacked subject matter jurisdiction over her claim for injunctive relief regarding the government's policies and procedures implementing the no-fly list. Ibrahim v. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 538 F.3d 1250 (9th Cir. 2008). Judge Smith dissented.
On remand, the plaintiff filed a second amended complaint that sought, among other things, limited relief relevant to the plaintiff's visa situation. Cash settlements with non-federal parties eventually reduced the question to prospective relief only against the federal government. Thereafter, the federal government filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that the plaintiff lacked standing to assert constitutional and statutory claims seeking prospective relief. The District Court agreed and held that while the plaintiff could seek damages for past injury at the San Francisco airport (and had successfully settled that part of the case), she had voluntarily left the United States and, as a nonimmigrant alien abroad, no longer had standing to assert constitutional and statutory claims to seek prospective relief. This holding was based on the ground that the development of federal constitutional law should not be controlled by nonimmigrant aliens overseas. Ibrahim v. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 2009 WL 22746194 (N.D. Cal. July 27, 2009).
A second appeal followed. On February 8, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed as to prospective standing, holding that even a nonimmigrant alien who had voluntarily left the United States nonetheless had standing to litigate federal constitutional claims in district court in the United States as long as the alien had a "substantial voluntary connection" to the United States. In an opinion by Judge William Fletcher, the Ninth Circuit found that the plaintiff had such a connection because of her time at Stanford University, her continuing collaboration with professors in the United States, her membership in several professional organizations located in the United States, the invitations for her to return, and her network of close friends in the United States. Ibrahim v. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 669 F.3d 983 (9th Cir. 2012). Judge Duffy dissented.
On the second remand, the federal government filed a motion to dismiss that was denied by the District Court on December 20, 2012. Ibrahim v. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 2012 WL 6652362 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 20, 2012). Discovery ensued, the District Court granted in limited part, but mostly denied, the federal government's motion for summary judgment, and a five-day bench trial began on December 2, 2013.
Following trial, on January 14, 2014, the District Court issued an order containing findings of fact and conclusions of law as well as granting some of the relief sought. The court found that the plaintiff did not pose (and had not posed) a threat to national security. Indeed, the court found that the plaintiff was erroneously put on the No Fly List because a FBI agent misunderstood the directions on the form to nominate persons to the No Fly List, and thus, checked the wrong box. This error further propagated through various other federal agency databases that caused her visa to be revoked and to not be allowed back into the United States.
The District Court held that due process entitled the plaintiff to a correction in the government's records to prevent the error of the FBI agent from further propagating through the various agency databases and from causing further injury to the plaintiff. The District Court further held that the federal government's DHS TRIP program was inadequate to satisfy procedural due process. The District Court, however, emphasized that it would be impractical and harmful to national security to routinely prove a pre-deprivation opportunity to be heard, and thus, until concrete, reviewable adverse action occurs against a nominee, the Executive Branch must be free to maintain its watchlists in secret.
The following relief was ordered by the District Court:
Later, the District Court awarded plaintiff's counsel their reasonable fees and expenses incurred for certain claims, including the procedural due process claim. 2014 WL 1493561 (N.D. Cal. April 16, 2014); 2014 WL 1493541 (N.D. Cal. April 16, 2014). The plaintiff appealed the decision on June 13 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
On July 11, 2014, Judge Alsup appointed a special master, who issued a report and recommendation regarding the amount of the award. On October 9, 2014, Judge Alsup adopted the report and recommendation in its entirety and awarded the plaintiff’s counsel $419,987.36 in attorney’s fees and $34,768.71 in expenses. 2014 WL 5073582.
On January 2, 2019, the Ninth Circuit reversed and vacated the award of attorneys’ fees, on the grounds that they were incorrectly reduced. It also remanded the case to allow the district court to make a bad faith determination under the correct legal standard and to re-determine the fee award.
The defendants filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on May 31, 2019, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the Ninth Circuit erred in vacating the district court’s finding of no bad faith in the government’s conduct. The Supreme Court denied the petition on October 15, 2019, although Justice Alito noted that he would have granted the cert petition. 140 S.Ct. 424.
On August 20, 2020, the plaintiff filed a renewed motion for attorneys' fees. As of October 14, 2020, the fee litigation is ongoing, with a hearing on the motion scheduled for November 5, 2020.
Summary Authors
Michael Mirdamadi (5/12/2014)
Sichun Liu (5/25/2019)
Rachel Harrington (10/14/2020)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4165736/parties/ibrahim-v-department-of-homeland/
Abye, Mikael A. (California)
Acker, G. Norman (California)
Adams, Cheryl Susana (California)
Agay, David A (California)
Aken, Christine Van (California)
Alsup, William Haskell (California)
Bea, Carlos T. (California)
Callahan, Consuelo Maria (California)
Clifton, Richard R. (Hawaii)
Duffy, Kevin Thomas (New York)
Fletcher, William A. (California)
Ikuta, Sandra Segal (California)
Kozinski, Alex (California)
Lamberth, Royce C. (District of Columbia)
Nelson, Dorothy Wright (California)
Otero, S. James (California)
Paez, Richard A. (California)
Silverman, Barry G. (Arizona)
Smith, Norman Randy (Idaho)
Adams, Cheryl Susana (California)
Aken, Christine Van (California)
Anderson, Caroline J. (California)
Anderson, Gary L. (California)
Anderson, Michael D. (California)
Andrikopoulos, Melissa Duncan (California)
Arulanantham, Ahilan T (California)
Atchison, Daryl A. (California)
Atkinson, Theodore W (California)
Attorney, Noticing INS (California)
Barghaan, Dennis Carl (California)
Barnard, Thomas H (California)
Barnea, Jean-David (California)
Barnett, Alexander E. (California)
Bauer, Jeffrey Michael (California)
Bauman, Kenneth C. (California)
Baumgartner, Margaret W. (California)
Bennett, James R. (California)
Bennett, Michelle Renee (California)
Bennett, Jared C. (California)
Bernstein, Erin Brianna (California)
Bers, Rebecca Ann (California)
Berwick, Benjamin Leon (California)
Bettwy, Samuel William (California)
Bianca, Salvatore F. (California)
Bianco, Anthony Daniel (California)
Bladuell, Hector G (California)
Bloom, Karen S (District of Columbia)
Bober, David Vincent (California)
Boerger, Tricia S. (California)
Bowen, Jennifer A (California)
Bowen, Brigham J. (California)
Brackstone, David (California)
Braunstein, Joshua E (California)
Bredenberg, Michael D. (California)
Bregman, Sheryl L. (California)
Bressler, Steven Yale (California)
Brumbelow, Jeremy S (California)
Buck, Lynne Haddad (California)
Buckingham, Stephen J. (California)
Buescher, Eric James (California)
Byars, Michael James (California)
Caldes, William G. (California)
Cartier, Nicholas Patrick (California)
Ceballo, Brian Paul (California)
Chertoff, Michael (California)
Christian, Lisa A (California)
Clements, Owen J. (California)
Clopper, John Dalton (California)
Cohen, Rebecca Shapiro (California)
Cohen, Kyle Scott (California)
Collins, Kelly Marie (California)
Connolly, Sean F. (California)
Coppolino, Anthony Joseph (California)
Cotchett, Joseph W. (California)
Coulehan, Holly Davidson (California)
Cunningham, Claire Ann (California)
Cutler, David Gregory (California)
Daeubler, Kirsten L (California)
Dannels, Jennifer D (California)
Daughtry, Emily Ewell (California)
Davis, Elliott Marc (California)
Davis, Kathryn Celia (California)
Dean, Christopher (California)
Dibble, Francis D. (California)
Dodson, Robert J. (California)
Dunsky, Gregory Paul (California)
Dupree, Thomas H. (California)
Edling, Matthew K. (California)
Eisenberg, Sara Jennifer (California)
Ekman, Michael D. (California)
Ellington, Alicia N. (California)
Ellis, Jeffrey J. (California)
Ellis, Kirkland & (California)
Emery, James Moxon (California)
Enos, Brian William (California)
Eriksson, Nirit Sandman (California)
Eshkenazi, Lara K. (California)
Esq., Ruth Marian (California)
Esq., Joanne Hoeper (California)
Fairgrieve, Rose-Ellen Heinz (California)
Falk, Rebecca Ann (California)
Farel, Lily Sara (District of Columbia)
Feagley, Michael Rowe (California)
Feldman, Brian Marc (California)
Feldon, Gary Daniel (California)
Fesak, Matthew Lee (California)
Fieber, Julie Lynn (California)
FitzGerald, Ellen (California)
Fleming, Mary Pat (California)
Flentje, August E (California)
Flynn-kozara, Abigail Deirdre (California)
Forrest, Katherine B. (California)
Forti, Michael A. (California)
Francis, Victoria L. (California)
Freeborne, Paul Gerald (District of Columbia)
Freeny, Kyle Renee (California)
Frooman, Hilary W (California)
Fruchtman, Rebecca O. (California)
Fuentes, Theresa J. (California)
Fuentes, Jose Luis (California)
Gacki, Andrea Marie (California)
Gardner, Joshua Edward (California)
Gerchow, Michael Anthony (California)
Gessner, Francesca Rosanna (California)
Gettleman, Jeffrey W (California)
Giacomini, Andrew Gary (California)
Gilligan, James J. (California)
Glass, David Michael (California)
Go, Samuel P. (District of Columbia)
Goldman, Jeremy Michael (California)
Gonzalez, Carlos A (California)
Gough, John Evans (California)
Grauman, Jesse Zvi (California)
Grindeland, Geoffrey M (California)
Gross, Stuart George (California)
Grumbach, Anthony Havemeyer (California)
Gruszka, Brianne M. (California)
Gschwind, Andrew Martin (California)
Haas, Alexander Kenneth (California)
Halmon, Harriett M. (California)
Hannawalt, James F. (California)
Hartinger, Arthur A. (California)
Hawley, Alexis Sullivan (California)
Healy, Christopher Robert (California)
Hecimovich, Lawrence (California)
Heiman, Julia Alexandra (California)
Helper, Thomas A. (California)
Hemesath, Audrey Benison (California)
Herb, Kimberly Lynn (California)
Herrera, Dennis J. (California)
Hickey, Richard J. (California)
Higgins, Meghan Kathleen (California)
Hikida, Katherine M (California)
Hildebrand, Regan (California)
Himel, Yoshinori H. (California)
Hobbs, Britannia I. (California)
Hofert, Daniel Cobb (California)
Holder, Charmaine M. (California)
Hollis, Christopher W (California)
Hopkins, Ralph E. (California)
Horton, Rebecca Blaire (California)
Horton, Robert C. (California)
Howard, Roscoe Howard (California)
Howzell, Terence J. (California)
Ihsanullah, Neelam (California)
Ikari, Carolyn Aiko (California)
Jackson, E. Fletcher (California)
Jensen, Kristen A. (California)
Johnson, Kristin Berger (California)
Jones, David Stuart (California)
Jorgensen, Caryn Geraghty (California)
Josephson, Matthew Allan (California)
Jr, Desmond Thomas (California)
Jude, Jennifer Ann (California)
Kabrawala, Ameet B. (California)
Kaim, Gabriel David (California)
Kaufman, Richard D. (California)
Keane, Timothy Joseph (California)
Keiper, Melanie Suzanne (California)
Kelleher, Diane (District of Columbia)
Kelley, Christina A. (California)
Kells, Conor (District of Columbia)
Kieselstein, Marc (California)
Kilpatrick, Richardo I (California)
Kirby, Karen Elaine (California)
Kirschner, Adam D. (California)
Kolluri, Prashant (California)
Koob, Charles Edward (California)
LaCour, Alice Shih (California)
LA-CV, Assistant US (California)
Lakritz, Thomas Spencer (California)
Lambert, Michelle R. (California)
Lawrence, Victor M (California)
Leary, Peter Decklin (California)
Lee, Jonathan Unruh (California)
Lefort, Deitz Patrick (California)
Leid, Patricia Ann (California)
Lesperance, Karen Folster (California)
Lester, Robert Ira (California)
Levy, Glenn Michael (California)
Lewis, Jeffrey Greg (California)
Lewis, Marc Robert (California)
Lievense, Andrew J. (California)
Lipke, Douglas J. (California)
Littleton, Judson O (California)
Llewellyn, Nicholas P. (California)
Llp, Paul Hastings (California)
Loebs, Blake Philip (California)
Loewenfeldt, Michael John (California)
Lothman, Laura G. (California)
Luedke, Thomas G. (California)
Machalinski, Donald G. (California)
Madsen, Brandt Randall (California)
Maldonado, Jenica Diane (California)
Marcus, Lisa Zeidner (California)
Margolis, Donald Paul (California)
Marlow, Kimberly Anne (California)
Marovitz, Andrew S (California)
Martin, Edward J. (California)
Mates, Justin William (California)
Matula, Michael L. (California)
Mays, Vanessa Miree (California)
McBreen, Hugh Gerard (California)
McCord, Stacey Elise (California)
McCotter, R. Trent (California)
McLaughlin, Kevin P. (California)
McShain, Heather Kirsten (California)
Menefee, Constance Marie (California)
Metlitzky, Warren (California)
Midian_AUSA, Kathleen Lucille (California)
Mitchell, Gail Y. (California)
Mittet, Marion J. (California)
Mongan, Leila Kimberly (California)
Monson, Lauren Marie (California)
Mooppan, Hashim M (California)
Morris, Kathleen Suzanne (California)
Morte, Tara Marie (California)
Motley, Christine E. (California)
Murphy-Osborne, Maura (California)
Nibbelin, John D. (California)
Nishimura, Bert Shinji (California)
Nishimura, Nanci E. (California)
Norman, David Louis (California)
Normand, Sarah Sheive (California)
Obermeier, Stephen (California)
O'Brien, Kevin P. (California)
Okada, Paul Akira (California)
Oldfather, Newton (California)
O'Neil, Elaine Mary (California)
Osborn, Meredith Blagden (California)
Oswald, Craig Arthur (California)
Parker, Katherine Lind (California)
Parker-DOJ, John R (California)
Paszek, Kristina Michelle (California)
Patton, John William (California)
Pearlman, Steven J (California)
Pederson, Elizabeth M. (California)
Poplawski, Kristine Ann (California)
Poretz, Jeffrey S. (California)
Porter, Katharine Hobin (California)
Poscablo, Christine Schessler (California)
Powell, Amy Elizabeth (California)
Powers, James Ryan (California)
Prairie, Nicole R (California)
Proctor, Melanie Lea (California)
Prose, Susan Begesse (California)
Pyle, Michael Thomas (California)
Quinlivan, Mark T. (California)
Raphaelson, Ira H. (California)
Raurell, Carlos Javier (California)
Reamy, Britnee Marie (California)
Reddy, Kirti Vaidya (California)
Redmond, Loretta Anne (California)
Richter, Zachary C (California)
Robbins, Patrick David (California)
Roberts, Darwin P (California)
Robertson, Katherine A. (California)
Robins, Jeffrey S (California)
Roccanova, Gina Marie (California)
Rolnick, Jonathan C. (California)
Rosenberg, Brad Prescott (California)
Rosenstein, Diana (California)
Ross, Linda Margaret (California)
Russi, Bradley Alan (California)
Sandberg, Justin M. (California)
Schaefer, Courtney Botts (California)
Schraibman, Sandra M. (California)
Schumacher, Robert W. (California)
Schwartz, James J. (California)
Schwei, Daniel Stephen (California)
Scott, Olivia Hussey (California)
Seligman, David R (California)
Serafyn, Jennifer A. (California)
Sexton, Brian Patrick (California)
Shapiro, Elizabeth J (California)
Siddiqui, Imtiaz A. (California)
Silberman, David Abraham (California)
Simpson, W. Scott (California)
Singer, Samuel M. (California)
Smith, Jeffrey Michael (California)
Smith, Alexandra F. (California)
Smith, MaraD Anne (California)
Smith, Melissa Richards (California)
Sneed, Sekret Tamara (California)
Snodgrass, Wayne Kessler (California)
Soloveichik, Layaliza K. (California)
Soosaipillai, Miruni (California)
Soskin, Eric Joseph (California)
Sowles, Marcia K. (California)
Spector, Eugene A. (California)
Speer, Kymberly Elizabeth (California)
Spellberg, Geoffrey (California)
Sprayregen, James (California)
Stark, Jennifer L. (California)
State, Department of (California)
Stegeby, Erik Kenneth (California)
Stegeman, Chad Allen (California)
Sterrett, Daniel R. (California)
Stevens, Elizabeth J (California)
Steverson, Carolyn Williams (California)
Sundby, Herbert C. (California)
Sutherland, Kevin Richard (California)
Swanson-Haan, Karen E. (California)
Swinton, Nathan Michael (California)
Swope, Virgil Raymond (California)
Tannenbaum, Andrew Harris (California)
Theis, John Kenneth (District of Columbia)
Thompson, Lee Andrew (California)
Tinio, Rebecca Sol (California)
Tom, Christopher T (California)
Truman, P Michael (California)
Tuthill, William A. (California)
Tyler, John Russell (District of Columbia)
Ulrich, Tamara Lynn (California)
VanRunkle, Aleeta Marie (California)
Vargas, Jeannette Anne (California)
Vassallo, Kristin Lynn (California)
Vaughn, Charles Zachary (California)
Vincent, Katherine W (California)
Walker, Juan Dion (California)
Walker, James Joseph (California)
Ward, Brian Christopher (California)
Warner, Adelmise Roseme (California)
Watson, Derrick K. (California)
Wechsler, Peter T. (California)
Westwater, Gisela A (California)
White, Joshua Seth (California)
Wicks, L. Michael (California)
Wiener, Scott David (California)
Wilhelm, D Gerald (California)
Williams, Steven N. (California)
Williams, Melaine A. (California)
Winn, Peter Angus (California)
Wolstein, Elizabeth (California)
Wolverton, Caroline Lewis (California)
Wood, Seth Morgan (California)
Woodward, Carol Lynne (California)
Woodward, David R. (California)
Yalen, Robert William (California)
Yoo, Donald Wayne (California)
Zaheer, Daniel Amon (California)
Zapala, Adam John (California)
Amanat, Farzin Franklin (California)
Attorney, OIL-DCS Trial (California)
Bashyrov, Jacob Alexander (California)
Belsan, Timothy Michael (California)
Cargo, Shane Patrick (California)
Chilakamarri, Varu (California)
Clopton, Zachary David (California)
Coleman, John Robert (California)
Connolly, Kathleen Ann (California)
Connolly, Christopher Kendrick (California)
Cowart, Brandon Herbert (California)
Everitt, Jeslyn A. (California)
Finneran, Richard E. (California)
Foust, Joshua Thomas (California)
Fuchs, Siegmund F. (California)
Girdharry, Glenn M (California)
Goettel, Katherine Elizabeth (California)
Goldman, Adam Laurence (California)
Goldsmith, Aaron Steven (California)
Guerra, David Louis (California)
Halterman, Sinem Tasan (California)
Heckenlively, Bryan H. (California)
Hendry, Melanie Dyani (California)
Hennes, Stefanie Notarino (California)
Jones, Michael Ryan (California)
Jones, Terrence M (California)
Kennedy, Sam Delk (California)
Kim, Elizabeth Ann (California)
Kisor, Colin Abbott (California)
LaFevers, Kathryn Jean (California)
McConaghy, Michelle Lynn (California)
Merchant, Orelia E. (California)
Nelson, Anna Emily (California)
Orenstein, Karin K. (California)
Osinoff, Joanne S (California)
Phillips, Bradley S. (California)
Robinson, Charles Furlonge (California)
Rocque, Amanda Adams (California)
Roden, Michael L. (California)
Romero, Jacqueline Christine (California)
Schachner, Elliot M. (California)
Schrader, Erin E. (California)
Schwartz, Beth Patricia (California)
Schweiner, Dianne (California)
Shaitelman, Kenneth Lee (California)
Silverman, Matthew (California)
Silvis, William Charles (California)
Smith, Barbara Healy (California)
Striff, Christopher William (California)
Taylor, Sara Nadine (California)
Vahab, Lana Lunskaya (California)
Walker, Elizabeth Lee (California)
Wichers, Christine J. (California)
Wildasin, Mark H. (California)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4165736/ibrahim-v-department-of-homeland/
Last updated Feb. 22, 2024, 3:14 a.m.
State / Territory: California
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: Jan. 27, 2006
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Plaintiff is a Muslim woman and a citizen of Malaysia barred from boarding a flight because of her inclusion on the No Fly List and denied a visa to return to the United States.
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Department of Homeland Security, Federal
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Ex Parte Young (Federal) or Bivens
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 551 et seq.
Constitutional Clause(s):
Unreasonable search and seizure
Available Documents:
Injunctive (or Injunctive-like) Relief
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Content of Injunction:
Issues
General:
Policing:
Immigration/Border: