Most teachers scoff at Wikipedia for class projects and papers, but for some courtrooms, the Web site is a reliable source whose information is admissible in court.
At least that's what happened in one case after the Department of Homeland Security deported an Ethiopian woman based on the Wikipedia definition of laissez-passer, a travel document she was using to attempt to enter the U.S. The Wikipedia article doesn't include any references or sources for its information.
On Friday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals, which stated that DHS was allowed to use the Web site as evidence to deport the woman.
In its original case, the DHS argued that the laissez-passer did not prove the woman's identity because it was a one-way travel document, as Wikipedia says, with information provided by the applicant.
Funny since one commenter on the Wired article points out that the defense attorney could have simply proved his case by editing the Wikipedia entry while in the courtroom.
The appeals court questioned the Board of Immigration Appeals as to why they allowed the DHS deportation ruling to stand. The board replied that it could find no clear error in the arguments, although it did say it doesn't encourage the use of sources such as Wikipedia in such cases.
Oddly enough, according to Wikipedia, admissible evidence must have "some indicia of reliability." However, there are also no references for that article either.