A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s secretive “kill list” can proceed. The suit was brought by U.S. freelance journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem, who says he narrowly escaped with his life on several occasions when the U.S. targeted him for airstrikes in Syria. Kareem says he was targeted for death because he frequently interviewed militants the U.S. has linked to al-Qaeda. In a decision handed down Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled the government cannot deny Kareem his constitutional right to due process.