A federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit targeting a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 that opponents argue could be used to indefinitely detain American citizens on mere suspicions of terrorism.

The journalists and activists who brought the case argued that the NDAA unconstitutionally gives the president the authority to detain anyone he suspects of teaming up with al Qaeda or the Taliban, anywhere. They argued that even those who merely spoke with terrorists -- like former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges -- might be in danger.

But in a 60-page ruling, a three judge panel from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that the plaintiffs lacked legal status to mount a challenge to the law because it "says nothing at all about the President’s authority to detain American citizens," and that two non-citizens who were also plaintiffs had failed to show that they were actually threatened with detention.