On April 5, 2016, nineteen American Muslim individuals listed in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ("FBI") Terrorist Screening Database filed this class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"), the FBI, the Transportation Security Administration ("TSA"), and the Terrorist Screening Center ("TSC"). Represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and private counsel, the plaintiffs brought this case under 5 U.S.C. § 702 and 5 U.S.C. § 706.

The complaint claimed that the defendants' terrorist screening database unfairly included individuals based on mere guesses, hunches, conjecture, and even simply based on matters of race and ethnicity. The plaintiffs alleged that such watch list disproportionately represented and affected Muslims: the listed individual was no longer permitted to fly, obtain licenses, and own a firearm, and was also subjected to stigmatization. Moreover, the complaint alleged that individuals on the watchlist were unable to challenge the basis for their inclusion, which violated the U.S. Constitution and individual's rights to Due Process. The plaintiffs sought compensatory damages and the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris and referred to the Magistrate Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff.

On August 2016, the plaintiffs amended the complaint to request a jury demand. The plaintiffs also sought to conduct a discovery to identify unknown defendants, which Magistrate Judge Nachmanoff denied during the motions hearing held on August 12, 2016. On September 2, 2016, fourteen out of fifteen defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim as well as a partial summary judgment, and the remaining defendant later filed a motion to join the claim.

On October 18, 2016, the court ordered both parties to submit briefs of their respective positions on whether this case should be stayed pending the Supreme Court's decision in Turkmen (IM-NY-0007 in this Clearinghouse). Defendants sought to continue with the process and not stay this case while the plaintiffs argued otherwise.

On November 1, 2016, Judge Cacheris ordered to stay the case. On June 29, 2017, Judge Cacheris lifted the stay. A hearing was scheduled for August 16, 2017, but was postponed after the defendants filed an unopposed motion for extension of time to file a supplemental briefing. However, on September 13, 2017, the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in light of the Supreme Court's holding in Ziglar v. Abbasi, where it held that a right of action for monetary damages against a federal official required special factors. The court granted the dismissal on September 14, 2017. This case is now closed.

MJ Koo - 02/16/2017
Lisa Limb - 03/23/2018


compress summary