Due process prevails? We may finally be seeing an end to George W. Bush-era security theater embodied in the FBI's abysmally flawed terrorist watchlist. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the official Terrorist Screening Database—a list that has grown to more than 1 million "known or suspected terrorists," including thousands of American citizens—was unconstitutional.
"There is no evidence, or contention, that any of these plaintiffs satisfy the definition of a 'known terrorist,'" wrote Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. His decision echoes what civil liberties groups, Muslim Americans, libertarians, and others have been saying for nearly two decades.
"An individual's placement into the [database] does not require any evidence that the person engaged in criminal activity, committed a crime, or will commit a crime in the future," the judge pointed out.
reason.com
