Posted on 03/19/2024 8:18:50 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday that a man’s challenge to his former placement on the No Fly List can move forward, finding the government failed to show his lawsuit is moot.
Yonas Fikre, a U.S. citizen who previously resided in Sudan, claimed his placement on the list was unlawful and sued the FBI.
The government later removed him from the list and signaled it was unlikely he would be readded. It then contended Fikre’s lawsuit was moot as a result and should be tossed.
The government warned that not declaring lawsuits like Fikre’s moot at the onset could require the government to disclose classified information. The Supreme Court rejected that assertion, enabling Fikre’s case to move ahead.
“Necessarily, our judgment is a provisional one,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the court’s opinion.
“Just because the government has not yet demonstrated that Mr. Fikre’s case is moot does not mean it will never be able to do so,” the conservative justice continued. “This case comes to us in a preliminary posture, framed only by uncontested factual allegations and a terse declaration. As the case unfolds, the complaint’s allegations will be tested rather than taken as true, and different facts may emerge that may call for a different conclusion.”
Fikre alleges that he traveled to Sudan in late 2009 in pursuit of growing an electronics business in his native East Africa. The FBI questioned him while in Sudan, according to court filings, telling Fikre he was on the No Fly List and could be removed if he became an informant.
Fikre allegedly refused and moved to the United Arab Emirates, where he claims he was then abducted and tortured for months by the country’s secret police at the FBI’s request. After leaving the United Arab Emirates, Fikre says he moved to Sweden, filed his lawsuit and sought asylum.
After being denied asylum, Sweden allegedly flew Fikre back to Portland, Ore., on a private jet.
In 2016, the government told Fikre he had been dropped from the No Fly List and his lawsuit was moot, court filings show. The district court agreed, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, leading the government to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The government does not generally disclose the full reasoning for why people are placed on the list, and the Justice Department expressed concerns that allowing cases such as Fikre’s to move forward would needlessly force the government to reveal its sometimes-classified explanations.
“A case does not automatically become moot when a defendant suspends its challenged conduct and then carries on litigating for some specified period,” Gorsuch pushed back. “Nor can a defendant’s speculation about a plaintiff ’s actions make up for a lack of assurance about its own. (For that matter, given what little we know at this stage in the proceedings, Mr. Fikre may have done none of the things the government presumes he has, perhaps wishing to but refraining for fear of finding himself relisted.)”
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote separately to clarify that the government does not necessarily have to make classified information available to Fikre to show his case is moot.
“In at least some instances, requiring the Government to disclose sensitive information regarding its grounds for placing or removing a person from the No-Fly List could undermine the Government’s significant interests in airline safety and the prevention of terrorist attack,” Alito wrote.
I am consulting Zen Master as to whether this has any implications for J6ers placed on similar no-fly lists.
In this case the gubment was trying to bully this guy into becoming an informant and he said “Nyet!”
The old "we can't tell you or children will die" excuse.
I don’t know how it works.
But, I would think putting a person on a “no fly” list will likely damage them.
Even if removed, I would guess that there is going to be some residual/ record of them being on it.
And at some point, maybe a job interview, he will need to “explain” it.
The government later removed him from the list and signaled it was unlikely he would be readded. It then contended Fikre’s lawsuit was moot as a result and should be tossed.
The sheer arrogance of this position would be breathtaking - had we no become accustomed to it from the bureaucratic morass that is the federal government workforce.
The existence of a bureaucratically decided no-fly list violates the due-process-of-law clause of the constitution.
maybe they could just turn off his electricity
or de-bank him
So classified information was needed to put him on the no-fly list. Now he isn’t on the no-fly list because they would have to explain why. Is he safe enough to fly or not? Apparently Intel wants to hold onto their info more than it wants to protect society. Or maybe the dude wasn’t so bad after all.
The fact that he is using legal means to get off the no-fly list leads me to believe he doesn’t belong on the double super secret list.
EC
My guess is someone put him on the No-Fly List as a spite. Perhaps a neighbor, a co-worker or a jealous ex-wife.
And the government is too embarrassed to let that information be made public.
Because if it’s that easy to do, then they will be flooded with vengeful accusations just for spite................
The FBI questioned him while in Sudan, according to court filings, telling Fikre he was on the No Fly List and could be removed if he became an informant.
He told the Feebs to pound sand. They don't like that.
The sheer arrogance of this position would be breathtaking - had we no become accustomed to it from the bureaucratic morass that is the federal government workforce.
“Schumer: Intelligence Agencies ‘Have Six Ways From Sunday Of Getting Back At You’”
The FBI has no authority outside of the US.
< snort >
Be sure to tell them that.
Jesus said it so well: “Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.”
My translation - there is just enough trouble every day. Not too much, not too little. And don’t worry about tomorrow.
If he's not on a list in Sudan, send him back...
Nothing good has ever come out of Sudan...
It would have been one thing had Fikre been put on the no fly list BEFORE he left the U.S. It was another thing that he was put on the no fly list while he was overseas but was then offered a deal to become an informant. That in itself, negates their action in the first place. Why would the FBI be concerned enough to put someone on a no fly list, gain their cooperation as an informant, and then drop them from the list? He would still pose a threat wouldn't he?
Gorsuch told the FBI that just because they dropped him from the no fly list that it doesn't make the case moot. It doesn't work like that. If he was put on the list because of genuine concern of airline safety or terrorism concerns then it would be justified. Absent any articulable reason for him to be on the list, and absent any sensitive information justifying him being on the list, it's going to cost the FBI big time.
This gov’t, FBI, DOJ has far exceeded it’s trust allotment long ago.
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