Saad Khalid v. Todd Blanche
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The 12th Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Saad Bin Khalid’s challenge to his placement on the federal Terrorist Watchlist, holding that because removal from the Watchlist would necessarily undo a concurrent TSA No-Fly-List order, the district court lacked Article III redressability and therefore jurisdiction. The panel majority concluded that § 46110 gives the circuit court exclusive authority over the TSA order, while the dissent argued this interpretation improperly forecloses district-court review and conflicts with other circuits.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether 49 U.S.C. § 46110’s grant of exclusive circuit-court review over TSA No-Fly-List orders divests district courts of jurisdiction to hear challenges to Terrorist Watchlist placements when a concurrent TSA final order is in effect.
Circuit Positions
District courts retain jurisdiction over Terrorist Watchlist challenges notwithstanding a pending TSA No-Fly-List order; § 46110 does not bar such suits.
District courts lack jurisdiction to review Terrorist Watchlist placements while a TSA No-Fly-List final order is in effect because relief would impermissibly ‘set aside’ the TSA order under § 46110.
Conflict Summary
The 6th and 9th Circuits hold that district courts retain federal-question jurisdiction to review Threat Screening Center/terrorist-watchlist decisions even when a TSA No-Fly-List final order exists, reasoning the two agencies’ actions are not ‘inescapably intertwined.’ In contrast, the 12th Circuit (current opinion) concludes that because removal from the Terrorist Watchlist would effectively ‘set aside’ the TSA Administrator’s No-Fly-List order, § 46110 bars district-court review for lack of redressability, thereby requiring the traveller to proceed first in the circuit court.