We filed this lawsuit on behalf of Ahmad Chebli, a native-born U.S. citizen of Lebanese descent, who was pressured by the FBI to become an informant within his community. When he refused, he was placed on the No-Fly List, which interferes with his work, prevents him from traveling to see family and friends, and bars him from traveling to Mecca to perform the religious pilgrimage obligation of Hajj. Mr. Chebli’s attempts to learn the (asserted) reasons for his inclusion on the List, and to have his name removed, have run up against the No Due Process stone wall that the government has erected around the No-Fly List.
Our lawsuit against Charles Kable IV, Director of the U.S. Terrorist Screening Center, and other federal officials, asserts that this treatment violates Mr. Chebli’s rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, his First Amendment right to refuse to become an FBI informant, and his right under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to practice his faith without undue government interference.
Less than a month after we filed suit, the government informed Mr. Chebli that he “no longer satisf[ied] the criteria for placement on the No Fly List” and that he has “been removed from the No Fly List, and will not be placed back on the No Fly List based on currently available information.” No further information was provided about why he was on the list in the first place, or what had changed (other than that he had filed a lawsuit). We voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit on May 12, 2021.
A blog post by Mr. Chebli is here.
