A Muslim civil rights organization said Tuesday it plans to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal government's terror watch list system, including a newly disclosed program in which air marshals have secretly monitored air passengers with no known terrorism links.
Gadeir Abbas, senior litigation attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the group will file the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on behalf of more than 10 Muslim travelers who allege they faced harassment at airports and suffered other consequences because of being placed on a terror watch list. The plaintiffs are from Maryland, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Kansas, New Jersey and Washington, DC.
Abbas said the defendants named in the lawsuit will include the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration and other government agencies. |