A group of California Institute of Technology scientists and engineers sued the U.S. government, saying new background checks by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration violate their constitutional rights. The scientists must submit to "an open-ended background investigation" and a determination of their suitability for their jobs based on "wrong-headed and/or dangerously vague criteria such as sexual orientation," they said yesterday in a complaint in Los Angeles federal court.
JPL Workers Sue Over HSPD-12 Checks Scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are suing NASA and the California Institute of Technology, which manages JPL, over what they say are unwarranted and overly personal background checks under the government wide access cards required under Homeland Security Presidential Directive - 12, according to an article by the Associated Press. The lawsuit was filed by 28 plaintiffs, many of whom have worked on such projects as the Mars rovers, the Galileo probe to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn, but none are involved in classified work, according to the suit, according to the article. It seeks class-action status to represent similar JPL employees.