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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-patriot27jan27,1,5762637.story
By David Rosenzweig
Times Staff Writer
January 27, 2004
A provision of the USA Patriot Act that makes it illegal to give "expert advice
or assistance" to foreign terrorist organizations has been declared
unconstitutional by a Los Angeles federal judge.
In a ruling issued late Friday and made public Monday, U.S. District Judge
Audrey B. Collins said the language in the law was so vague that "it could be
construed to include unequivocally pure speech and advocacy protected by the 1st
Amendment."
The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the
legal challenge, said it was the first time that any part of the post-9/11
anti-terrorism law had been declared unconstitutional.
Passed overwhelmingly by Congress, the Patriot Act contains more than 300 pages
of amendments that give sweeping powers to law enforcement authorities. Since
its passage, the act has come under increasing attack from a variety of
quarters, from civil libertarians to librarians and politicians.
A spokesman for Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said an appeal was being considered.
The center filed its lawsuit on behalf of two individuals and five organizations
that support the Kurdistan Workers Party in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. Both groups were designated in 1997 as terrorist by
the State Department.
The American plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they were interested only in
providing humanitarian aid to the two groups, including advocating on their
behalf before Congress and the United Nations and helping them with various
nonviolent economic, social and educational programs.
"Our clients sought only to support lawful and nonviolent activity, yet the
Patriot Act draws no distinction whatsoever between expert advice in human
rights, designed to deter violence, and expert advice on how to build a bomb,"
said David Cole, an attorney with the center and a Georgetown University law
professor.
In a 36-page opinion, Collins concurred, saying that "the USA Patriot Act places
no limitation on the type of expert advice and assistance which is prohibited,
and instead bans the provision of all expert advice and assistance, regardless
of its nature."
The Justice Department denied that the law was vague. It contended in court
papers that the Patriot Act did not bar advocacy on behalf of terrorist groups,
but that other forms of support were clearly prohibited.
The contested portion of the law bars anyone from knowingly providing material
support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Material
support and resources are defined as money, lodging, training, expert advice or
assistance, safe houses, false documents, communications equipment, weapons,
explosives, personnel and transportation. Medicines and religious materials are
specifically exempt.
Violators can be imprisoned for up to 15 years or face life imprisonment if
their activities cause a death.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs said they had not provided any kind of support
to the Kurdistan Workers Party or the Tamil Tigers, fearing criminal
prosecution.
The Workers Party was formed 25 years ago with the stated goal of winning
self-determination for the Kurds in southeastern Turkey. The organization's
American supporters include the Los Angeles-based Humanitarian Law Project,
headed by a retired administrative law judge, Ralph Fertig.
Fertig, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, stated that he and other members wanted to
advocate for the Workers Party before Congress and the United Nations; to teach
the party and the Kurds how to use international law to seek redress of their
grievances; and to assist party leaders at future conferences aimed at reaching
a peaceful settlement with Turkey.
In their complaint, the Tamil Tigers' supporters — four organizations and one
individual — said they wanted to provide medical advice and assistance to
hospitals and medical centers in Tamil-controlled areas of Sri Lanka and also to
offer the Tamil Tigers advice on economic development, law and political
organization
Collins' ruling was a replay of a decision she handed down three years ago in a
case involving the same plaintiffs and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act of 1996, predecessor to the USA Patriot Act. In the earlier lawsuit,
Collins found that the law's prohibition against providing "personnel" or
"training" to terrorist organizations was also unconstitutionally vague.
A panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge in a 2-1
decision last December. The Justice Department is seeking a review of that
ruling by an 11-member appeals court panel. Mark Corallo, the Justice
Department's public affairs director, said Monday that the government would
consider asking that panel to take up Collins' latest ruling as well.
In a written statement, he defended the Patriot Act as "an essential tool in the
war on terror." The law, he said, "has played a key part — and often the leading
role — in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from
the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of
life."
In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush made a point of
defending the Patriot Act.
But on the next day, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution stating
its opposition to the law.