Jan 11, 2008 10:50 am US/Pacific
Judge Stops Background Checks For JPL Workers
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
CBS
A federal appellate court Friday granted a preliminary injunction barring what 28 scientists at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory contend are invasive employee background checks by the federal government.
In the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals' decision written by Judge Kim Wardlaw, the court ruled that the JPL employees "demonstrated serious questions as to certain of their claims on which they are likely to succeed on the merits and the balance of hardships tip sharply in their favor."
The court reversed a lower court's decision to deny the injunction, ruling that U.S. District Judge Otis Wright erred when he ruled that the JPL employees were unlikely to suffer harm from not agreeing to the checks.
Wardlaw wrote the plaintiffs "face a stark choice -- either violation of their constitutional rights or loss of their jobs."
At issue is a 2004 executive order signed by President Bush requiring
federal agencies and facilities to institute an identification badge system.
The plaintiffs -- all long-term Caltech employees -- allege the Bush administration is requiring them to consent to broad written waivers permitting investigators to obtain records from their past employment files.
Investigators would also be allowed to question the employees' friends
and associates about their emotional and financial well-being, as well as their sexual histories, the plaintiffs claim.
The 9th Circuit's decision comes two days after Wright said in a four-page ruling that the scientists failed to show any constitutional violations on the part of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena because it is a private -- not a government -- entity.
Caltech manages JPL for NASA, the nation's space agency.
Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are NASA and the U.S. Department of Commerce, which are expected to ask -- at a hearing set for Friday afternoon -- that Wright dismiss the lawsuit against them.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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