About 250 plaintiffs seeking nullification of the special antiterrorism law filed an appeal Monday with the Tokyo High Court against a district court ruling that dismissed their claims.
They are demanding that the law, enacted in 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, be nullified. They argue that the law violates the Constitution's recognition of the right of people around the world to live in peace and its renunciation of war as a means of settling international disputes.
They are also demanding in the suit, which was filed 12 months ago, that the government order Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels dispatched to the Indian Ocean under the law to return home.
It is the first lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the antiterrorism law.
On June 25, the Saitama District Court ruled that such claims are not subject to litigation, without revealing the court's opinion on whether it considers the antiterrorism law constitutional.
The plaintiffs attacked the lower court ruling, saying, "The court merely followed the political line instead of maintaining the independence of the judiciary."