Today the Supreme Court took up a very difficult question: if a person explains to a terrorist group how to pursue peaceful resolution of their goals, is that constitutionally-protected speech?

Federal law, as amended by the USAPATRIOT Act, makes it a crime to provide “training” and “expert advice or assistance” to designated terrorist groups. The Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) in years past provided advice to groups including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), both groups designated terrorist groups by the State Department. HLP trained the groups on using international law, including petitions to the United Nations, to achieve their goals peacefully. HLP says the groups formed to protect the rights of minority populations that they argue have been marginalized, and HLP sought to help the groups move away from terrorist tactics and achieve their goals through peaceful means.

The Obama administration, however, argues that providing aid—including legal advice—to the groups would run afoul of federal law. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who represents the federal government before the Supreme Court, argued today that aiding these groups helps them achieve legitimacy, and the government not only seeks to stop their terrorist activities, but also wants to dissolve the groups themselves. Moreover, the government argues helping the groups with any one aspect of their operation frees up personnel or gives them more time to pursue terrorism. Thus, any aid to these organizations is in effect helping them carry out terrorism, and since terrorism is an action and not speech, the First Amendment to the Constitution does not protect the aid groups.

Justices subjected both lawyers to tough questioning. Conservative Justices John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy—usually the swing vote in close cases—and Sam Alito all seemed skeptical of the contention that the aid HLP wanted to provide would not help the groups carry out terrorist attacks. They also seemed hesitant to accept the government’s argument that the line between “advice” and “expert advice” was clear; advice is legal, while expert advice is not. One point of agreement seemed to be that there was a problem with any law that might make it illegal to provide legal advice.

The lawsuit was brought as an “as applied” challenge, meaning HLP was asking only for a declaration that its activities were protected, not that the whole law be struck down, but there seemed to be much confusion about how the Court could make such a declaration without imperiling prosecution of anyone under the law. That confusion may provide an out for the Court: it could send the case back to the lower courts for consideration of whether the law is unconstitutional entirely.

The case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, will be decided before this summer.

President Barack Obama pledged “swift, coordinated and aggressive” action Wednesday in response to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti Tuesday.

“The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble, and to deliver the humanitarian relief,” Obama said. “[Agency for International Development] and the Departments of State and Defense are working closely together and with our partners in Haiti, the region and around the world.”

Photo: GeoEye Satellite Image

The American response will include mobilizing required resources for search and rescue operations and placing Agency for International Development administrator Rajiv Shah as the U.S. unified disaster coordinator. 

According to Obama, locating American citizens in the employment of Haiti’s U.S. embassy will also be a top priority.

While the president did not give an estimate for the death toll following the quake, it is expected to be in the thousands.

TRNS Managing Editor Victoria Jones speaks with Chris de Bono with UNICEF about ways in which his organization is providing humanitarian aid around the globe. (9:28)

 

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responds to allegations that the recent IMF funding may lead to terrorism. On the contrary, Pelosi reaffirms that the IMF has been created for economic and humanitarian purposes, adding that the war-bill will only serve to reinforcing the international organization’s work. (0:48)

 

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By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a brief statement to the press today with The Right Honorable David Miliband, M.P., Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland prior to their bilateral meeting which will discuss issues such as humanitarian issues in Sri Lanka and action in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Clinton said, “He and I have already forged a close working relationship on not only out bilateral issues but on so many of the global concerns that we both care greatly about.”

By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a brief statement to the press today with The Right Honorable David Miliband, M.P., Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland prior to their bilateral meeting which will discuss issues such as humanitarian issues in Sri Lanka and action in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Clinton said, “He and I have already forged a close working relationship on not only out bilateral issues but on so many of the global concerns that we both care greatly about.”

 

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At the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “Neglected Responsibilities: The U.S. Response to the Iraqi Refugee Crisis,” Congressman William Delahunt (D-MA) says that we cannot allow a breeding ground for terrorism to fester in the Middle East, and he says he suggests the vast numbers of refugees will produce terrorist of the future unless they are treated with respect and dignity. (:27)

 

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At the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “Neglected Responsibilities: The U.S. Response to the Iraqi Refugee Crisis,” Chairman Gary L. Ackerman, (D-NY) says that at the hearing last year, a witness said that the U.S. response to the refugee crisis could be the first step to rehabilitating our image in the Middle East and globally, but a year later, we have yet to seize that moment. (:23)

 

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At the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “Neglected Responsibilities: The U.S. Response to the Iraqi Refugee Crisis,” Chairman Gary L. Ackerman, (D-NY) said Congress increased to 5000 the number of Special Immigrant Visas available to Iraqis who worked for the United States. However, in terms of refugees, only 1,608 were resettled during Fiscal Year 2007. In order to reach the goal of 12,000 refugees resettled during this Fiscal Year, he said, the Administration would have to triple the number of refugees processed each month. A year later, and we have yet to “seize the moment” in terms of rehabilitating the image of the United States in the Middle East. (more…)