Marwa Elzankaly successfully argued on behalf of a Stanford graduate student from Indonesia who found herself inexplicably on the No-Fly List.
In a reversal of an earlier ruling by the US District Court, the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit handed down a decision allowing federal trial judges to investigate the make up of the No-Fly List. This decision opened the door to allow travelers to bring suit in order to determine how their names were added to the No-Fly List.
The decision caused ripples in the legal community nationwide. In addition to articles in the SF Chronicle and The Daily Journal, Marwa was interviewed by Fox News, National Public Radio (NPR), and International News Network (INN) World Report in New York, KPFK Los Angeles, KQED San Francisco and KTVU Channel 2.
In addition, Elzankaly received numerous awards as a result of this decision. She was honored with the 2009 California Lawyer of the Year Award from California Lawyer magazine and selected as one of the top 20 attorneys in California under the age of 40 by The Daily Journal. The Business Journal included her in their “40 Under 40,” 40 top women under the age of 40 and The Daily Journal featured her as one of the Top 100 Women Litigators of 2009. She also received the YWCA 2009 TWIN Award honoring women who exemplify excellence in executive positions.