Court rejects support ban challenge
[08 Mar 2001]

The Supreme Court turned aside a free-speech challenge to ban on giving money, weapons or other tangible support to foreign groups designated by the government as terrorist organisation, a press release issued by the US embassy stated.

The court, without comment on last Monday, rejected arguments that the law creates “guilt by association” and bans aid even for lawful activities by such organisations.

The justices also rejected the government’s bid to reinstate two provisions of the law that a lower court barred from being enforced.

The measure is part of the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act was designed to cut off support from within the United States for foreign terrorism. 

Under the law, the security of state can designate a group as a “foreign Terrorist organisation” if it engages in terrorist activity that threatens the security of the United States or its citizens.

It is a crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to provide such organisations tangible support such as money, weapons, false identification, training or personnel. There is no ban on providing medicine or religious materials.

Two US citizens and six domestic organisations, including the Humanitarian Law Project challenged the law.

They said they wanted to provide support for lawful, non-violence activities by two groups designated as foreign terrorist organisations: the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka (LTTE).

A federal judge in Los Angeles upheld most of the law, saying it did not aim to suppress speech. However, the judge barred enforcement of the ban on providing personnel or training. Those provisions were too vague, the court said.

The 9^th US Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in March 2000, saying “there is no constitutional right to facilitate terrorism by giving terrorists the weapons and explosives with which to carry their grisly missions.”

In the appeal acted on Monday, lawyers for the individuals and organisations said the law “punishes moral innocents” and were similar to McCarthy-era laws that punished association with the Communist Party.

Justice Department lawyers said people “remain free to align themselves designated organisations through expressions of solidarity and advocacy of their causes.”

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