THE TARGETED JUSTICE LAWSUIT: The Case That Was Silenced Before It Could Be Heard — and the Epidemic It Exposed

"Classified Document"

In 2023, a lawsuit quietly entered the federal courts, raised alarming allegations, and vanished from public view almost as quickly as it appeared. The case, Targeted Justice, Inc. v. Garland, sought to challenge a system of watchlisting, surveillance practices, and coordinated harassment that plaintiffs believed had destroyed their lives.

Few people knew this lawsuit existed.

Even fewer understood why it mattered.

And almost no one understood why the case was dismissed before any evidence could be reviewed.

Regardless of where one stands on the issue of targeted harassment, the lawsuit revealed a growing national crisis: thousands of Americans reporting identical patterns of stalking, workplace retaliation, digital interference, and psychological manipulation — while discovering there is no effective legal remedy.

This article examines what the plaintiffs alleged, what the courts did, what loopholes exist, what targeted individuals endure, and what reforms are needed to protect people from abuse in an era of advanced surveillance and fragmented accountability.

I. What the Targeted Justice Lawsuit Claimed

On January 11, 2023, Targeted Justice, Inc., along with 18 individual plaintiffs, filed suit against:

Attorney General Merrick Garland

FBI Director Christopher Wray

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

The Terrorist Screening Center

The Department of Homeland Security

The Federal Bureau of Investigation

The plaintiffs alleged they were placed into hidden subcategories of the Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) — especially “Handling Codes 3 & 4” — classifications they believed labeled them as potential threats without evidence, notice, or due process.

According to the complaint, these classifications triggered:

Surveillance and tracking

Workplace interference

Public harassment

Community-based intimidation

Digital manipulation

Psychological operations–style tactics

Patterns of stalking and provocation

They described experiences strikingly similar to thousands of self-identified targeted individuals across the United States.

II. Real People, Real Attempts to Get Answers

Before filing the suit, plaintiffs attempted to obtain records from federal agencies.

Examples include:

Dr. Leonid Ber contacted the FBI and DHS in November 2022.

Dr. Timothy Shelley contacted FBI, DHS, and DOJ in December 2022.

Winter Calvert wrote to both agencies in December 2022.

Karen Stewart submitted multiple inquiries across late 2022 and early 2023.

They requested confirmation of their watchlist status, records explaining any alleged risk classification, and documentation of government activity involving their names.

Most received no meaningful response.

To the plaintiffs, this silence was not accidental — it was part of the harm.

Below are the stories behind those names — stories the courts never heard.

1. Dr. Leonid Ber – November 2022: The Engineer Who Could Not Explain the Pattern

By discipline and temperament, Dr. Leonid Ber was a man of systems. His life had been devoted to precision — to things that could be measured, tested, and proven. But by late 2022, he began to notice something that resisted all of that.

The changes came gradually at first: a coworker repeating a phrase he had only spoken in his home, a stranger glancing at him with a look that suggested recognition where there should have been none, a vehicle appearing at the edges of his commute too often to be coincidence. Each incident alone was easy to dismiss. Together, they drew a pattern he could no longer ignore.

He did what an engineer does: he documented. Times, dates, locations, license plates, workplace incidents, digital anomalies — everything went into a growing log. Yet the more data he gathered, the more disturbing the picture became. It was not chaos. It was choreography.

In November 2022, he took the step that many never dare to take: he wrote to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and asked, directly, whether he had been placed on a watchlist or in any risk classification system. He requested records, explanations, and the legal basis — if any — for whatever was happening to his life.

There was no answer. Not a denial, not a clarification, not an acknowledgment of concern. Just silence.

For Dr. Ber, that silence was not neutral. It was the sound of a system that could act upon him but would never account to him. When he later joined the Targeted Justice lawsuit, it was not out of abstract ideology. It was because a man who lived his life by logic had reached the edge of what logic alone could resolve — and the institutions built to provide answers had chosen not to speak.

2. Dr. Timothy Shelley – December 2022: A Life Shifted Overnight

For Dr. Timothy Shelley, the shift felt almost overnight. A stable professional and academic life began to warp in ways that felt unnatural. Routine errands were now punctuated by repeated faces and vehicles. Conversations seemed to echo in places they had never been spoken. Phone calls dropped or glitched when certain topics arose. Emails behaved as though someone else were standing between “send” and “receive.”

At first, he suspected technical issues. Then coincidence. Then stress. But as the incidents accumulated, even the most generous interpretation could not explain them away. What he experienced was not a single event; it was a pattern — and patterns are what professionals like him are trained to recognize.

In December 2022, he contacted the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice. His inquiries were not vague. He laid out a timeline, describing repeated encounters, digital interference, workplace frictions that appeared to be triggered by information no one should have had. He asked whether he had been flagged, listed, or subjected to any form of government or contractor monitoring — and if so, why.

He was met with the same institutional silence.

Days turned into weeks with no substantive response. In the absence of information, the pressure intensified. The sense of being watched was now compounded by the realization that there was no door to knock on, no office to appeal to, no clear path to clear his name, if indeed it had been quietly stained in some database without his knowledge.

By the time the Targeted Justice lawsuit formed, Dr. Shelley had already been living in that silence for months. Joining the case was, for him, not a declaration of theory but a plea for accountability: for someone, somewhere in the system, to answer for what had been unleashed on his life.

3. Winter Calvert – December 2022: A Life Turned Inside Out

For Winter Calvert, the intrusion did not begin with a headline or a letter. It began with a feeling — the distinct sensation of being watched even in the most ordinary moments of her day. She dismissed it at first. Then came the missteps that didn’t feel like accidents: a service worker making an oddly pointed comment, a stranger repeating a phrase she had only written, not spoken; unexplained noises and disturbances that arrived like punctuation marks to her private thoughts.

As the months passed, the disturbances escalated. Vehicles idled outside at odd hours. People she had never met appeared repeatedly in different places, sometimes within minutes of her leaving her home. Her phone and online accounts behaved as though someone else had partial control — messages disappeared, settings changed, activity logs suggested access that she had not authorized.

Winter did what many targeted individuals eventually do: she started writing everything down. Dates, times, descriptions, plate numbers, screenshots, glitches, confrontations — it all went into a record. The more she wrote, the clearer the pattern became. And the clearer the pattern became, the more surreal it felt that no one around her could see what she was living through.

In December 2022, she reached out to the FBI and DHS, not with wild accusations but with a straightforward request: Were her name or personal identifiers connected to a watchlist, flag, risk assessment, or any related program? Was there any lawful explanation for the pattern of harassment and interference that had enveloped her life?

The answer was silence.

That silence left her in a limbo familiar to many targeted individuals: too much evidence to pretend nothing was happening, but not enough recognition from institutions to obtain help or protection. Joining the Targeted Justice lawsuit was, for Winter, not just about herself. It was about forcing into the record a reality they refused to acknowledge — a reality built from the quiet dismantling of people’s lives.

4. Karen Stewart – Late 2022 / Early 2023: The Insider Who Recognized the Pattern

Karen Stewart came to this issue from a different direction. She was not a stranger to intelligence structures or national security language. As someone who had worked within that world, she understood both its protective functions and its vulnerabilities. She knew how watchlists were supposed to work — and how they could be misused if left unchecked.

Her own experiences unfolded over a longer period, through a mixture of professional conflict, retaliation, and increasingly invasive harassment that reached into every corner of her life. Where others saw coincidence, she recognized design. The language of “monitoring,” “flagging,” and “threat assessment” was not abstract to her — it was familiar.

Between late 2022 and early 2023, Stewart filed multiple inquiries to federal agencies, seeking not only her own records but clarity on how certain programs were being applied. She asked questions that only someone with her background would even know to raise: questions about process, oversight, classification, redress.

The responses were either nonexistent or hollow. She, too, encountered the institutional wall of non-answer — a refusal to meaningfully engage, explain, or correct.

For Stewart, the silence confirmed her deepest concern: that a system designed under the banner of national security had drifted far beyond effective oversight. Misclassifications could occur. Names could be flagged incorrectly. Harassment could grow from those errors — and there was no meaningful mechanism for those affected to challenge or correct the record.

When she joined Targeted Justice, she brought more than her own story. She brought a warning: that what was happening to targeted individuals across the country was not random chaos, but the predictable consequence of power without transparency. Yet even with her background and insight, her story — like the others — never made it past the courthouse doors.

III. Why the Lawsuit Was Dismissed Before Evidence Could Be Examined

1. The District Court (July 2023)

The district court dismissed the lawsuit for procedural reasons:

The plaintiffs could not access records proving watchlist placement.

The allegations were considered insufficiently supported at the pleading stage.

Privacy Act claims were dismissed due to administrative technicalities.

Constitutional claims were dismissed for lack of “jurisdiction.”

2. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (March 2024)

The appeals court upheld the dismissal, reaffirming that:

The plaintiffs lacked the evidence required to proceed.

Courts cannot review claims that involve classified systems without concrete proof.

3. The Supreme Court (2024)

The plaintiffs petitioned for review.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

At no point did any judge request:

documents,

witness testimony,

internal audits,

or classified briefings.

The case ended the same way it began: unheard.

IV. The Systemic Loophole That Protects Wrongdoers

The lawsuit exposed a structural flaw in American law:

You cannot prove wrongdoing without evidence — and the systems accused operate behind secrecy walls that prevent citizens from accessing evidence.

This creates a permanent loop:

1. Classified systems withhold information.

2. Citizens cannot obtain proof of targeting.

3. Courts dismiss cases for lack of evidence.

4. No investigation ever occurs.

Under this structure, any misconduct — whether by government actors, private contractors, or individuals exploiting the system — can continue unchecked.

V. The Epidemic: What Targeted Individuals Report Across the Country

Plaintiffs in the Targeted Justice case described experiences identical to thousands of others nationwide. These patterns have become so widespread that they form a recognizable behavioral template.

1. Workplace Harassment

Common reports include:

sudden hostility from coworkers

false accusations or write-ups

intimidation from supervisors

coordinated humiliation tactics

HR departments ignoring or burying complaints

coworkers repeating private conversations

attempts to provoke emotional reactions

2. Public Stalking and “Street Theater”

Targets frequently describe:

strangers appearing repeatedly at the same times and locations

synchronized gestures or verbal cues

vehicles following or circling them

noise harassment — slamming doors, honking, revving engines

people confronting them with private information

3. Digital Interference

Patterns include:

hacked devices

text messages vanishing or altering

unexplained phone behavior

GPS manipulation

unauthorized access to accounts

4. Home and Environmental Interference

Reports include:

unusual maintenance issues

repeated “mistakes” by service personnel

tampered utilities

unexpected entries

5. Psychological Operations–Style Tactics

Many describe:

strangers delivering symbolic messages

good cop/bad cop alternations

efforts to destabilize trust

coordinated social isolation

6. Institutional Dismissal

Targets nearly always experience:

police refusing to document incidents

doctors dismissing symptoms as psychiatric

courts refusing to consider patterns

family and friends distancing due to fear or misunderstanding

While interpretations differ, the consistency of these reports across demographics is a social and human-rights issue that cannot be ignored.

VI. How Wrongdoers Can Exploit Today’s Legal Loopholes

Whether the actors are government employees, private contractors, informant networks, criminal groups, or individuals mimicking intelligence tactics, certain vulnerabilities in American law allow harassment to continue without accountability.

1. Watchlist Secrecy

No notice is required.

No hearing is guaranteed.

No redress is effective.

Misclassification can ruin lives without leaving a visible trail.

2. Decentralized Harassment

Most harassment occurs through behaviors that appear minor individually:

one hostile coworker

one strange comment in public

one unusual vehicle

No single act is illegal.

The pattern is the crime — but the law does not recognize patterns without a named perpetrator.

3. Digital Harassment Gaps

Cyberstalking laws have not caught up with modern tactics, allowing:

spoofing

remote access hacks

interference with communication

surveillance via third-party tools

to go uninvestigated.

4. Plausible Deniability in Psychological Operations

Tactics designed to destabilize emotionally or mentally leave no physical evidence.

Courts require physical proof.

Perpetrators rely on the absence of it.

5. Classified Programs Cannot Be Challenged

If a system is classified, courts will not review it without concrete evidence — and classified systems do not release evidence.

This allows:

errors,

abuses,

policy failures,

and intentional harm

to operate behind an impenetrable wall.

VII. Why Victims File Lawsuits — and Why They Almost Never Succeed

Targeted individuals attempt litigation when:

police refuse to help

employers retaliate

property interference escalates

digital sabotage causes financial loss

public harassment becomes unbearable

But lawsuits routinely fail because:

perpetrators remain unidentified

motives cannot be proven

courts will not consider patterns

evidence is inaccessible

psychological harassment is not a defined crime

national-security shields block inquiry

This leaves victims with no pathway to justice, no matter how severe the harassment becomes.

VIII. What Targeted Individuals Commonly Do to Protect Themselves

Across TI communities, the following strategies are common:

detailed documentation

cameras and security upgrades

digital privacy tools

legal preservation letters

therapy for trauma responses

relocation when feasible

complaints to oversight agencies

FOIA and Privacy Act requests

joining support communities

These measures offer stability — but do not resolve the underlying issue.

IX. What Must Change: A Comprehensive Framework for Reform

1. Watchlist Transparency and Accountability

mandatory notification of watchlist placement

meaningful redress procedures

independent review boards

regular audits

2. Workplace Protection Laws

Expand harassment statutes to include:

coordinated behaviors

retaliation based on misinformation

targeted psychological harm

3. Pattern-Based Harassment Legislation

Allow courts to evaluate the pattern, not just isolated incidents.

4. Cyberstalking and Digital Harassment Reform

Create enforceable standards for:

unauthorized surveillance

spoofing

persistent interference

compromised devices

5. Judicial Access to Classified Evidence

Permit judges to privately review evidence relevant to alleged targeting.

6. Contractor Oversight

Ensure strict regulation of:

intelligence contractors

private security groups

companies with access to surveillance tools

7. Public Health & Human Rights Services

Provide:

trauma-informed care

investigation of unexplained symptom clusters

safe reporting channels

crisis response teams

8. Whistleblower Protection

Strengthen protections for insiders able to reveal abuses, errors, or misclassification harms.

Conclusion

The Targeted Justice lawsuit did not fail because its claims were disproven — it failed because the legal system is not built to evaluate allegations involving secrecy, decentralized harassment, or advanced psychological manipulation.

Whether caused by government error, private actors, or a mix of systems and individuals, the suffering of targeted individuals is real, widespread, and largely unaddressed.

Until meaningful reforms are enacted, those who are targeted — or believe they are targeted — will continue living in a world where harm is coordinated, evidence is inaccessible, institutions look away, and perpetrators walk free through the loopholes the system was never designed to close.