Excerpt:
Legislation proposed today in Congress would grant civil immunity to people who report suspicions of terrorist activity to law enforcement, as well as to people in law enforcement who respond to those reports.
The bill is in response to a civil rights lawsuit that six imams filed after they were removed in 2006 from a US Airways flight before takeoff at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Other passengers had grown suspicious after watching the imams pray, switch seats and request seat-belt extensions.
The imams settled their claims against the airline, the airport and law enforcement in 2009. They initially sued the other passengers but voluntarily dismissed that part of their lawsuit in 2007, according to court records.