Federal judge rules part of Patriot Act unconstitutional [fs]

[declan () baltwash com]

[One of very many sections of a 421KB law, but still encouraging.
Full text: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3162.ENR: --Declan]

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Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 12:27:03 -0800 (PST)
From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <jhall () sims berkeley edu>
Reply-To: joehall () pobox com
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Federal Judge Rules Part of Patriot Act Unconstitutional

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040126/D80AN0280.html

Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional

By LINDA DEUTSCH

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a
portion of the USA Patriot Act that bars giving expert advice or
assistance to groups designated foreign terrorist organizations.

The ruling marks the first court decision to declare a part of the
post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism statute unconstitutional, said David
Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the case on
behalf of the Humanitarian Law Project.

In a ruling handed down late Friday and made available Monday, U.S.
District Judge Audrey Collins said the ban on providing "expert advice
or assistance" is impermissibly vague, in violation of the First and
Fifth Amendments.

...

The Humanitarian Law Project, which brought the lawsuit, said the
plaintiffs were threatened with 15 years in prison if they advised
groups on seeking a peaceful resolution of the Kurds' campaign for
self-determination in Turkey.

...

"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 judge
said.

...



(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
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Joseph Lorenzo Hall                    http://pobox.com/~joehall/
Graduate Student             blog: http://pobox.com/~joehall/nqb/
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