Saad Bin Khalid v. TSA

── Saad Bin Khalid v. TSA ── Court: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Date: April 14, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Argued October 10, 2025 Decided April 14, 2026 No. 23-1150 SAAD BIN KHALID, PETITIONER v. TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION AND DAVID P. PEKOSKE, ADMINISTRATOR, TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY, RESPONDENTS On Petition for Review of an Order of the Transportation Security Administration Gadeir I. Abbas argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the brief was Lena F. Masri. Justin Sadowsky entered an appearance. Joshua P. Waldman, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Sharon Swingle and Catherine Padhi, Attorneys. Ashley C. Honold, Attorney, entered an appearance. Before: HENDERSON, PILLARD and CHILDS, Circuit Judges. Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge PILLARD.  2 PILLARD, Circuit Judge: Saad bin Khalid, a United States citizen, is on the No Fly List. As a result, he is barred from boarding any planes that fly in U.S. airspace. Believing that placement to be in error, Khalid sought redress through an administrative appeal process run by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The TSA Administrator, after reviewing Khalid’s submissions and the nonpublic recommendations of the government’s Threat Screening Center, determined by order that Khalid should remain on the list. Khalid now petitions for review of the TSA Administrator’s order. He raises statutory and constitutional challenges to his placement on the No Fly List and the adequacy of the redress process. We dismiss one of Khalid’s challenges for lack of standing and deny the rest on their merits. I. A. Congress has charged the Transportation Security Administration to “use information from government agencies to identify individuals on [airline] passenger lists who may be a threat to civil aviation or national security” and, if appropriate, require air carriers to “prevent [such] individual[s] from boarding an aircraft.” 49 U.S.C. § 114(h)(3)(A)-(B). In addition, Congress instructed TSA to “establish a procedure to enable airline passengers” who are “prohibited from boarding a flight” because “they might pose a security threat” to “appeal [that threat] determination.” Id. § 44903(j)(2)(C)(iii)(I). To carry out those responsibilities, TSA draws on the work of the Threat Screening Center (the Center), a multi-agency body administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation  3 (FBI). The Center maintains a centralized database of known and suspected terrorists, collecting and screening nominations from other agencies of individuals to include. That database is commonly known as the terrorist watchlist. The No Fly List is a subset of the terrorist watchlist: The Center adds a No Fly List designation to individuals on the terrorist watchlist if it determines that they meet one of four additional criteria, such as posing “a threat of engaging in or conducting a violent act of terrorism and [being] operationally capable of doing so.” See Overview of the U.S. Government’s Terrorist Watchlisting Process and Procedures as of April 2024 (D.A. 142); McQueen Decl. ¶ 9 (D.A. 116). People included on the No Fly List are prohibited from boarding U.S. commercial aircraft or flying through U.S. airspace. TSA can remove individuals’ No Fly List designations through the Department of Homeland Security Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP). TSA administers DHS TRIP to respond to individuals’ claims that they experienced travel difficulties because they are erroneously treated as No Fly listees. For U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, the redress