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.
