German court: Plane shoot-down law violates constitution

Germany’s supreme court today ruled that a law allowing the government to order hijacked airliners to be shot down as a last resort in the event of a terror attack violates the nation’s constitution.

President Horst Koehler signed the air safety bill into law last year.

He urged the nation’s highest court to review it amid heated debate that Germany’s constitution barred the government from killing citizens, even if that meant saving the lives of others.