High court backs law barring advice to terrorist groups

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a federal law that forbids providing training and advice to terrorist organizations even about entirely peaceful and legal activities, saying it does not violate the free speech rights of those who want to help.
Discuss COMMENTS (1) The court ruled, 6 to 3, that Congress and the executive branch had legitimate reasons for barring “material support’’ to foreign organizations deemed to be terrorists in the USA Patriot Act.
Those challenging the law “simply disagree with the considered judgment of Congress and the executive that providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization — even seemingly benign support — bolsters the terrorist activities of that organization,’’ Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority.
“That judgment, however, is entitled to significant weight, and we have persuasive evidence before us to sustain it.’’
He was joined by the court’s conservatives — Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel A. Alito Jr. — as well as its most liberal member, retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer took the relatively unusual step of reading his dissent from the bench, saying the court had abandoned its role of protecting individual liberties under the First Amendment because of national security threats Congress did not adequately justify.
“In such cases, our decisions must reflect the Constitution’s grant of foreign affairs and defense powers to the president and to Congress but without denying our own special judicial obligation to protect the constitutional rights of individuals,’’ Breyer said.
“That means that national security does not always win.’’
He was joined in the dissent by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
The Obama administration said the law has been used about 150 times since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks. But it has rarely been used for the kind of speech involved in this case.
The aid groups that challenged the law had trained a Kurdish group in Turkey on how to bring human rights complaints to the United Nations and assisted them in peace negotiations. They suspended the activities when the United States designated the Kurdish organization, known as the PKK, a terrorist group in 1997. The groups wanted to give similar help to a group in Sri Lanka, but the United States designated it a terrorist organization in 1997.
Nearly four dozen organizations are on the State Department list, including Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Basque separatists in Spain, and Maoist rebels in Peru.
The humanitarian groups, including the Humanitarian Law Project, an organization based in California; Ralph Fertig, a civil rights lawyer; and Nagalingam Jeyalingam, a physician; want to offer assistance to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.
In other action yesterday, the justices:
■ Decided to allow a new trial for a woman who got breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy and is seeking punitive damages against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The justices rejected Wyeth’s attempt to block the trial because it is to be limited to punitive damages. Wyeth is a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company.
■ Ruled that a federal judge went too far when he banned the planting of genetically engineered alfalfa seeds after reports that the plants might harm the environment. The court, on a 7-to-1 vote, reversed a federal appeals court ruling that had prohibited Monsanto Co. from selling alfalfa seeds because they are resistant to the popular weed killer Roundup.