‘Flying Imams’ Settlement Carries Costs for Air Safety

USA Today:  “Payouts could chill crews from acting on reasonable suspicions.  When six Muslim clerics were removed from a US Airways flight in 2006 because their behavior raised suspicions, the imams and their attorneys rushed to complain of anti-Muslim bias and ethnic profiling.  The inevitable lawsuit soon followed.  The religious leaders, who were questioned for a few hours before being released, accused the airline, the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and law enforcement officials of violating their civil rights.   That lawsuit has now been settled out of court for an undisclosed amount — which might serve the defendants’ short-term interests but carries a long-term price for air safety.”