Federal Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act

Monday, January 26, 2004

(4:50 PM ET)

By Dan Whitcomb

Reuters

"The provision at issue in today's decision was a modest amendment to a preexisting anti-terrorism law that was designed to deal with real threats caused by support of terrorist groups. By targeting those who provide material support by providing 'expert advice or assistance,' the law made clear that Americans are threatened as much by the person who teaches a terrorist to build a bomb as by the one who pushes the button."

Los Angeles. Calif. -- Reuters
A federal judge in Los Angeles has struck down as too vague part of the Patriot Act that bars providing "expert advice and assistance" to foreign terrorist groups -- marking the first time a court has declared part of the law unconstitutional.

The written ruling by U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins, came in a 2003 challenge to the Patriot Act by five organizations and two individuals who sought to support Kurds in Turkey and Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The ruling is significant in that it strikes the statute down as being in violation of the Fifth and First Amendments," David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the case for the Humanitarian Law Project.

"It underscores what so many have said all along about the Patriot Act -- that Congress, in acting so hastily after 9-11, swept far too broadly and didn't pay significant attention to constitutional rights and liberties," he said.

(More: Reuters.com)

2003 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan