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U.S. Supreme Court,
Constitutional Law

Feb. 23, 2010

Terrorism Law, the New McCarthyism

Constitutional lawyer Stephen Rohde says terrorism law uses guilt by association to punish lawful activities.

Stephen F. Rohde

Email: rohdevictr@aol.com

Stephen is a retired civil liberties lawyer and contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books, is author of American Words for Freedom and Freedom of Assembly.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the first encounter with the free speech and association rights of American citizens in the context of terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks, and in the first test of the constitutionality of a provision of the USA Patriot Act.

The "Material Support" law takes a sweeping approach to its ban on aid to terrorist groups, prohibiting the provision of cash, weapons and the like, as well as four more ambiguous categories - "train...

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