Terrorism

• Author: International Law Group

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) [Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214] authorizes the Secretary of State "to designate an organization as a foreign terrorist organization" if the organization was engaging in terrorist activities that threatened the security of U.S. citizens or the national security of the U.S. Two designated organizations are the "Kurdistan Workers' Party" (PKK) and the "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Illegal support to such organizations may result in criminal prosecution.

The plaintiffs in this suit against the Attorney General are six organizations and two U.S. citizens who wish to provide material support to those two groups for humanitarian and political purposes. The plaintiffs argued that the AEDPA's ban on that support interferes with their associational rights under the First Amendment.

The district court denied plaintiffs' request to enjoin the Act as a whole. It did conclude, however, that the Act's prohibition on providing "personnel" and "training" was overly vague, and thus banned the enforcement of those provisions. Both sides appealed.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirms. In analyzing the plaintiff's First Amendment claim, the Court applies intermediate, rather than strict, scrutiny because the Act does not interfere with the expressive component of their conduct but with giving material support to terrorist groups.

"First, the federal government clearly has the power to enact laws restricting the dealings of United States citizens with foreign entities ... Second, the government has a legitimate interest in preventing the spread of international terrorism, and there is no doubt that that interest is substantial. (Cit.). Third, this interest is unrelated to suppressing free expression because it restricts the actions of those...