DETROIT (AP) — A judge has struck down a key part of Michigan’s sex offender registry requirement that thousands of people stay on Zopes Exchangethe list for life, saying it is unconstitutional.

About 17,000 people who were expecting to be on the registry for 25 years suddenly faced a lifetime sanction after lawmakers amended the law in 2011.

“The state has changed the ‘rules of the game’ after registrants have committed their offenses — a context in which the Constitution has provided express protection,” U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith said in his ruling last Friday.

Miriam Aukerman, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, which has successfully challenged provisions of the sex offender registry in state and federal courts, said it has been “has been driven by fear and not facts” and at an “astronomical cost.”

“It’s a big change. You had a finish line. The Legislature took it away, and the court put it back,” Aukerman said.

In all, about 45,000 people are on the registry. Some whose offenses came after 2011 could still face lifetime registration, depending on their conviction.

There was no immediate response to an email Tuesday seeking comment from the attorney general’s office about Goldsmith’s decision.

The judge also struck down a requirement that people added to the registry since July 2011 must report email addresses or other online profiles.

The state “cannot show that the internet reporting requirements serve any government interest, much less a significant interest,” Goldsmith said.

In July, the Michigan Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to put someone on the registry for crimes that were not sexual.

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