Zaidan v. Trump

317 F. Supp. 3d 8
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJune 13, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 17–581 (RMC)
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 317 F. Supp. 3d 8 (Zaidan v. Trump) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zaidan v. Trump, 317 F. Supp. 3d 8 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

ROSEMARY M. COLLYER, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan and Bilal Abdul Kareem are journalists who specialize in reporting on terrorism and conflict in the Middle East. Mr. Zaidan learned his name was included on a list of suspected terrorists and Mr. Kareem has been the victim or near victim of at least five aerial bombings while in Syria. Based on this information, the Plaintiffs believe their names are on a list of individuals the United States has determined are terrorists and may be killed (the so-called Kill List). Plaintiffs sue President Donald J. Trump, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Secretary of the Department of Defense (DOD), the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), all in their official capacities, as well as the Department of Justice (DOJ), DOD, DHS, and CIA. Plaintiffs allege that these officials and agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq. , by putting Plaintiffs' names on the Kill List. Defendants move to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, arguing that Plaintiffs lack standing and raise a political question outside the jurisdiction of the courts. Defendants also move to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. The Court will grant the Motion to Dismiss in part and deny it in part.

*14I. BACKGROUND

The Court takes its facts from the Complaint which the government, at this early stage of the litigation, has not controverted. Mr. Zaidan is a Syrian and Pakistani citizen who has been employed as a journalist by Al Jazeera for over 20 years. Compl. [Dkt. 1] ¶ 3. Mr. Kareem is an American citizen and freelance journalist, reporting for BBC, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, CNN, Sky News, and Al Jazeera. Id. ¶ 4. Both Mr. Zaidan and Mr. Kareem regularly investigate and report on terrorism and its causes in the Middle East. Id. ¶¶ 3-4.

As part of his reporting, Mr. Zaidan was one of only two journalists who interviewed Osama bin Laden prior to the attacks on September 11, 2001. Id. ¶ 3. Mr. Zaidan was not involved in planning the 9/11 attack or any other attack. Id. ¶¶ 20-21. He has no association with Al-Qaeda or the Taliban and poses no threat to the United States or its citizens. Id. ¶¶ 22-23. Mr. Zaidan's work does, however, require him to communicate frequently "with sources who have connections [to] terrorists and their associates" and to travel in countries where terrorists are active. Id. ¶ 26. In addition to bin Laden, Mr. Zaidan has interviewed other terrorist leaders such as Baitullah Mehsud of the Tehreek-e Taliban-e Pakistan (Taliban Movement of Pakistan) and Abu Mohammad al-Jolani of the Al Nusra Front. Id. ¶¶ 30-31. In 2015, Mr. Zaidan traveled in Syria reporting on battles of the Free Syrian Army; as a result, he says that he was listed on Syrian State Television as a member of Al-Qaeda. Id. ¶ 32. Mr. Zaidan alleges on information and belief that his actions as a journalist caused him to be listed in a U.S. intelligence document called SKYNET, which identified potential terrorists based on their metadata (electronic patterns of communications, writings, social media postings, and travel). Id. ¶ 33. He believes that because he was identified by SKYNET as a potential terrorist, he has also been included on the Kill List, allowing him to be targeted and killed. Id. ¶ 35.

Similarly, Mr. Kareem has no association with Al-Qaeda or the Taliban, has never participated in the planning of a terrorist attack, and has never aided any organization or individual which engages in terrorism. Id. ¶¶ 40-42. He is currently employed by On the Ground Network (OGN) and tasked with investigative journalistic coverage of the anti-Assad rebels in Syria. Id. ¶ 45. This work involves interactions with "local 'militants' during interviews." Id. In June 2016, Mr. Kareem was at the location of four different aerial attacks. Id. ¶¶ 47-50. The first and fourth incidents involved strikes to the OGN office in Idlib City when Mr. Kareem was inside the office.

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Bluebook (online)
317 F. Supp. 3d 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zaidan-v-trump-cadc-2018.