The US Supreme Court denied a bid to consider the scope of its 35-year-old ruling that generally forbids judicial review of government security clearance decisions.

The justices rejected government contractor Nathan Mowery’s bid to revive his religious discrimination lawsuit against the CIA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He alleged that he lost out on a staff position at the NGA due to his Muslim faith.

Mowery, a decorated Army combat veteran who converted to Islam, had challenged a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that relied on that Supreme Court’s 1988 ruling in Department of the Navy v. Egan.

While Egan blocked the Merit Systems Protection Board from reviewing the revocation of a Navy security clearance, some courts have read the case broadly to cover national security employment cases that go beyond security clearance decisions.

Mowery argued in his petition that the Fourth Circuit’s application of Egan—even though he was not denied a security clearance—shows how an overly expansive interpretation of that precedent can leave workers with no pathway to have their federal rights vindicated.

The case is Mowery v. Nat’l Geospatial Intel. Agency, U.S., No. 22-560, cert. denied 2/21/23.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Iafolla in Washington at riafolla@bloomberglaw.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Martha Mueller Neff at mmuellerneff@bloomberglaw.com

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