On Jan. 14, Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California, issued a ruling in favor of Dr. Rahinah Ibrahim in her case against the Federal Government, which had placed Ms. Ibrahim on the No Fly List and has barred her from returning to the U.S. Ms. Ibrahim, a Malaysian citizen and former graduate student at Stanford, was falsely arrested at San Francisco International Airport in 2005 as she attempted to return to Malaysia. While she was eventually allowed to board her flight, she was later denied reentry into the United States. Eventually, Ms. Ibrahim filed a lawsuit challenging her inclusion on the No Fly List, which Muslim Advocates supported and filed an amicus brief.

With this ruling, the Court found that Ms. Ibrahim’s inclusion in the No Fly List violated her due process rights. The Court ordered that the Government “cleanse and/or correct its lists and records of the mistaken information and to certify under oath that such correction(s) have been made….Also, the government is ordered to disclose to plaintiff her current status on (or off) the no-fly list…” Ms.Ibrahim’s is the first legal challenge against the No Fly List to go to trial and the first case in which a plaintiff has prevailed.