National Lawyers Guild and Society of American Law Teachers Strongly Oppose Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 27, 2007
1:25 PM
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CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild / Society of American Law Teachers
Marjorie Cohn, NLG president, marjorie@tjsl.edu; 619-374-6923
Eileen Kaufman & Tayyab Mahmud, SALT co-presidents,
eileenk@tourolaw.edu, (631)761-7125; Mahmud@seattleu.edu, (206)
398-4148
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National Lawyers Guild and Society of American Law Teachers Strongly Oppose Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
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WASHINGTON - November 27 - On October 23, 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Violent
Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 by a
vote of 404-6. The bill will be referred out of committee this week
and will then go to the Senate floor. The National Lawyers Guild and
the Society of American Law Teachers strongly oppose this legislation
because it will likely lead to the criminalization of beliefs, dissent
and protest, and invite more draconian surveillance of Internet
communications.
This bill would establish a Commission to study and report on "facts
and causes" of "violent radicalism" and "extremist belief systems."
It defines "violent radicalism" as "adopting or promoting an extremist
belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based
violence to advance political, religious, or social change." The term
"extremist belief system" is not defined; it could refer to
liberalism, nationalism, socialism, anarchism, communism, etc.
"Ideologically based violence" is defined in the bill as the "use,
planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or
individual to promote the group or individual's political, religious,
or social beliefs." Thus, "force" and "violence" are used
interchangeably. If a group of people blocked the doorway of a
corporation that manufactured weapons, or blocked a sidewalk during an
anti-war demonstration, it might constitute the use of "force" to
promote "political beliefs."
The bill charges that the Internet "has aided in facilitating violent
radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown
terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad
and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States
citizens." This provision could be used to conduct more intrusive
surveillance of our Internet communications without warrants.
This legislation does not criminalize conduct, but may well lead to
criminalizing ideas or beliefs in violation of the First Amendment.
By targeting the Internet, it may result in increased surveillance of
Internet communications in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The National Lawyers Guild and the Society of American Law Teachers
strongly urge the Senate to refuse to pass the Violent Radicalization
and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association,
which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the
oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in
the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has
chapters in every state.
The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) is a community of progressive law
teachers working for justice, diversity and academic excellence. SALT is the
largest membership organization of law faculty and legal education
professionals in the United States.
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