The ACLU filed suit today against the federal government's secret "no fly" list at San Francisco Airport.

In papers filed with the court, the ACLU said that at least 339 passengers have been stopped and questioned at San Francisco International Airport since September 2001.

"At the San Francisco airport alone, hundreds of passengers were stopped or questioned in connection with the so-called ‘no fly’ list," said Jayashri Srikantiah, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. "If that number is any indication, it is likely that thousands of individuals at airports across the country are being routinely detained and questioned because their names appear on a secret government list."

....The scant public information that is available about transportation watch lists confirms that the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) maintains at least two watch lists: the "no fly" list and a "selectee" list that establishes which air passengers are singled out for additional security measures.

The case is Rebecca Gordon et al., v. FBI et al., filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The legal complaint is available here. A chart of "no fly" incident lists is available here.

Programs such as these threaten our liberty but don't make us safer. We are grateful to the ACLU for watching out for all of us. If you can afford a donation to support their work, visit here.