Aviation Security Act case

The Aviation Security Act case was a 2006 decision of Germany's Federal Constitutional Court declaring unconstitutional and void a provision of the Aviation Security Act that would have authorized the armed forces to shoot down a hijacked civilian aircraft being used as a weapon against human life. The Court held that killing the innocent passengers and crew to protect people on the ground would treat those on board merely as a means to save others, violating their absolute and non balanceable right to human dignity under the Constitution's first article, regardless of how many lives on the ground might otherwise be saved. The ruling is frequently cited as an example of a court treating human dignity as a right that cannot be weighed against even a large number of other lives.