Supreme Court to Review Law Banning Material Support to Terrorist Groups
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a law barring material support to terrorist groups is unconstitutionally vague.
The law is one of the government’s most-used legal weapons in fighting terrorism, SCOTUSblog reports. The statute authorizes the government to designate foreign terrorist organizations and makes it a crime to knowingly provide material support or resources to such groups.
The Justice Department has used the law to prosecute about 120 people, gaining convictions in about half the cases, SCOTUSblog says. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had barred enforcement of three sections of the law, based on a challenge to the statute as it was applied.
Groups challenging the law say it bars aid to lawful, nonviolent activities of designated organizations, the Associated Press reports.
The lead lawyer challenging the law is Georgetown University law professor David Cole, Reuters reports. “The material support law resurrects guilt by association and makes it a crime for a human rights group in the United States to provide human rights training,” Cole told the wire service.
The case is Humanitarian Law Project v. Eric Holder Jr.
