Federal Appeals Court Blocks NASA Background Checks

LOS ANGELES (AP) – An appeals court in California today ruled NASA should be blocked from doing background checks on low-risk employees at its Jet Propulsion Lab.

The order says the practice threatens the constitutional rights of workers. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said 28 scientists and engineers who refused to submit to background checks “face a stark choice – either violation of their constitutional rights or loss of their jobs.”

The decision written reverses a ruling by U.S. District Judge Otis Wright and sent the case back to him — to issue an injunction on behalf of workers.

The workers sued, claiming that NASA was invading their privacy by requiring the investigations. If they didn’t agree to the checks, they could be fired.

NASA has argued that requiring employees to submit to the investigations wasn’t intrusive.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)