Have you given any money to charity? Do you donate to organizations overseas? Do you give to organizations in regions of past or present conflict like Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, or Africa among others? The Patriot Act gives the government broad power to prosecute anyone who gives money or even intangible support including training or advice to any organization designated as terrorist by the State Department.
Unfortunately, today the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Patriot Act upholding the ban on providing aid to groups designated as terrorist by the State Department, even if that aid is humanitarian. The case is Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a powerful dissent joined by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. He wrote:
"Hence to accept this kind of argument without more and to apply it to the teaching of a subject such as international human rights law is to adopt a rule of law that, contrary to the Constitution’s text and First Amendment precedent, would automatically forbid the teaching of any subject in a case where national security interests conflict with the First Amendment."
Justice Breyer makes the point that the Patriot Act is so overbroad, it prohibits even teaching human rights law to so-called terrorist groups so that they might advocate for their views through the courts or other legal means. It is tragic that the State Department can single-handedly designate a group as terrorist thereby cutting off the abililty of human rights advocates to work with those groups toward peace. How can peace be achieved if it is now a crime to speak to those in conflict? World peace feels a step further away today.
