Court Reinstates Professor Rahinah Ibrahim's lawsuit over No-Fly List
Feb 12, 2014, 4:59 pm
#76
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Feb 12, 2014, 5:34 pm
#77
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It appears the government screwed the pooch and then tried to cover it up by crying "Terrorism!!!". Wow! You mean government officials will lie to cover their backsides? Who could have seen that coming? (/sarcasm)
An article from Wired says that Prof. Ibrahim was initially placed on the no-fly list due to clerical error. Then the Justice Department spent years basically lying to the courts in an attempt to avoid embarrassment. Does anyone think TSA would falsely claim "SSI" just to avoid disclosing embarrassing facts, too?
An article from Wired says that Prof. Ibrahim was initially placed on the no-fly list due to clerical error. Then the Justice Department spent years basically lying to the courts in an attempt to avoid embarrassment. Does anyone think TSA would falsely claim "SSI" just to avoid disclosing embarrassing facts, too?
The Justice Department nearly got away with the cover up, which commenced under the President George W. Bush administration.
At one point, Judge Alsup dismissed the case. A federal appeals court reinstated it in 2012, more than a year after Alsup tossed it. A month before Ibrahim’s trial, the judge said he learned the Kafkaesque truth. “I feel that I have been had by the government,” he said in a November pretrial conference.
Last week he laid it out all in his final order in the case, ruling for Ibrahim following a five-day, non-jury trial that was conducted largely behind closed doors in December.
At long last, the government has conceded that plaintiff poses no threat to air safety or national security and should never have been placed on the no-fly list. She got there by human error within the FBI. This too is conceded. This was no minor human error but an error with palpable impact, leading to the humiliation, cuffing, and incarceration of an innocent and incapacitated air traveler. That it was human error may seem hard to accept — the FBI agent filled out the nomination form in a way exactly opposite from the instructions on the form, a bureaucratic analogy to a surgeon amputating the wrong digit — human error, yes, but of considerable consequence...
At one point, Judge Alsup dismissed the case. A federal appeals court reinstated it in 2012, more than a year after Alsup tossed it. A month before Ibrahim’s trial, the judge said he learned the Kafkaesque truth. “I feel that I have been had by the government,” he said in a November pretrial conference.
Last week he laid it out all in his final order in the case, ruling for Ibrahim following a five-day, non-jury trial that was conducted largely behind closed doors in December.
At long last, the government has conceded that plaintiff poses no threat to air safety or national security and should never have been placed on the no-fly list. She got there by human error within the FBI. This too is conceded. This was no minor human error but an error with palpable impact, leading to the humiliation, cuffing, and incarceration of an innocent and incapacitated air traveler. That it was human error may seem hard to accept — the FBI agent filled out the nomination form in a way exactly opposite from the instructions on the form, a bureaucratic analogy to a surgeon amputating the wrong digit — human error, yes, but of considerable consequence...
Feb 12, 2014, 7:28 pm
#79
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Feb 23, 2014, 5:09 pm
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So we spend millions in salary, court time, depositions, and legal fees, when once it was realized a mistake had been made it costs NOTHING to say "we're sorry, a mistake was made...here is your visa".
Government bureaucracy will never admit mistakes, cover up, obfuscate, deny is their mantra!
Government bureaucracy will never admit mistakes, cover up, obfuscate, deny is their mantra!
Apr 19, 2014, 5:52 pm
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As promised, the un-redacted opinion and order of the trial judge has been released. Here it is for your reading pleasure...
Apr 19, 2014, 6:31 pm
#82
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As promised, the un-redacted opinion and order of the trial judge has been released. Here it is for your reading pleasure...
After skimming through this, my blood is boiling again. However, my first impression as a layman is that the judge was thorough and fair in eventually cutting through the B.S. Will the victim, ah, plaintiff have any civil recourse?
An article in the Malaysian press...
Malaysian victim of Kafka-esque action in US travel ban, court rules
Last edited by Fredd; Apr 19, 2014 at 6:45 pm