Judge Strikes Down Bush On Terror Designation

[SirNitram]

Link

2006 (AP)— A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

The Humanitarian Law Project had challenged Bush's order, which blocked all the assets of groups or individuals he named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists," said David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights that represented the group. "It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era."

The case centered on two groups, the Liberation Tigers, which seeks a separate homeland for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan, a political organization representing the interests of Kurds in Turkey.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins enjoined the government from blocking the assets of the two groups.

Both groups consider the Nov. 21 ruling a victory; both had been designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.

Cole said the judge's ruling does not invalidate the hundreds of other designated terrorist groups on the list but "calls them into question."

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said, "We are currently reviewing the decision and we have made no determination what the government's next step will be."

A White House spokeswoman declined to immediately comment. At the time of his order creating the list, Bush declared that the "grave acts of terrorism" and the "continuing and immediate threat of future attacks" constituted a national emergency.

The judge's 45-page ruling was a reversal of her own tentative findings last July in which she indicated she would uphold wide powers asserted by Bush under an anti-terror financing law. She delayed her ruling then to allow more legal briefs to be filed.

She also struck down the provision in which Bush had authorized the secretary of the treasury to designate anyone who "assists, sponsors or provides services to" or is "otherwise associated with" a designated group.

However, she let stand sections of the order that penalize those who provide "services" to designated terrorist groups. She said such services would include the humanitarian aid and rights training proposed by the plaintiffs.

The Humanitarian Law Project planned to appeal that part of the ruling, Cole said.

"We are pleased the court rejected many of the constitutional arguments raised by the plaintiffs, including their challenge to the government's ban on providing services to terrorist organizations," Miller said Tuesday. "However, we believe the court erred in finding that certain other aspects of the executive order were unconstitutional."

The ruling was still considered a victory, Cole said.

"Even in fighting terrorism the president cannot be given a blank check to blacklist anyone he considers a bad guy or a bad group and you can't imply guilt by association," Cole said.

[Macross]

I went to High School with someone who's father has recently been arrested for being associated with the Liberation Tigers. The FBI raided his house in the middle of the night a few months ago. The family is well educated, successful, respected, and very active in the community, not the types who you would expect to be labeled terrorists.

Apparently, the father made some monetary donations to the Liberation Tigers. I had never heard of this group before the arrest and the 6 o'clock news only described them as a terrorist organization.

The son, who i went to school with, said it was all a big understanding, and that they were going to fight this in court. I wonder how this decision will effect his case and family.

[JME2]

Best news I've heard all day.

[Ma Deuce]

Apparently, the father made some monetary donations to the Liberation Tigers. I had never heard of this group before the arrest and the 6 o'clock news only described them as a terrorist organization.

Sounds like the infamous "Tamil Tigers" (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Nasty bunch, they are: suspected or known to be responsible for numerous assassinations, massacres, ethnic cleanings, suicide bombings, etc over the years in Sri Lanka. They've also been known to blackmail Tamil expatriates overseas into giving them money by threatening the safety of relatives still living in Sri Lanka.

[kheegster]

The Tamil Tigers are at least as much of a terrorist group as Hamas or Hizbollah, however this is beside the point of the good news.

[Worlds Spanner]

THREAD NECROMANCY!!!

Anyway, for those who are interested, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in this case on Feb. 23, 2010 (I happen to have been there, which is why I am sitting around searching for threads about the case).

Coverage:
http://www.latimes.com/la-na-court-terr ... 4820.story
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 79756.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/us/24 ... urt&st=nyt
http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/02/analy ... -easy-one/