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Supreme Court Backs Abortion Protesters
Yahoo news ^ | 2/28/06 | TONI LOCY, AP

Posted on 02/28/2006 7:27:13 AM PST by conservatrice

Edited on 02/28/2006 8:38:19 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to abortion clinics in a two-decade-old legal fight over anti-abortion protests, ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations.

The 8-0 decision ends a case that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had kept alive despite a 2003 ruling by the high court that lifted a nationwide injunction on anti-abortion groups led by Joseph Scheidler and others.

Anti-abortion groups brought the appeal after the appellate court sought to determine whether the injunction could be supported by charges that protesters had made threats of violence.

In Tuesday's ruling, Justice Stephen Breyer said Congress did not intend to create "a freestanding physical violence offense" in the federal extortion law known as the Hobbs Act.

Instead, Breyer wrote, Congress chose to address violence outside abortion clinics in 1994 by passing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which set parameters for such protests.

Social activists and the AFL-CIO had sided with abortion demonstrators in arguing that lawsuits and injunctions based on the federal extortion law could be used to thwart their efforts to change public policy or agitate for better wages and working conditions.

The legal battle began in 1986, when the National Organization for Women filed a class-action suit challenging tactics used by the Pro-Life Action Network to block women from entering abortion clinics.

NOW's legal strategy was novel at the time, relying on civil provisions of the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which was used predominantly in criminal cases against organized crime. The lawsuit also relied on the Hobbs Act, a 55-year-old law banning extortion.

A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction against the anti-abortion protesters after a Chicago jury found in 1998 that demonstrators had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by interfering with clinic operations, menacing doctors, assaulting patients and damaging clinic property.

But the Supreme Court voided the injunction in 2003, ruling that the extortion law could not be used against the protesters because they had not illegally "obtained property" from women seeking to enter clinics to receive abortions.

Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the decision.

The cases are Scheidler v. NOW, 04-1244, and Operation Rescue v. NOW, 04-1352.

___

On the Net:

Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov

Read the opinion.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: abortion; face; operationrescue; rico; ruling; scheidler; scotus; supremecourt
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YAY
1 posted on 02/28/2006 7:27:14 AM PST by conservatrice
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To: conservatrice

What was the vote tally?


2 posted on 02/28/2006 7:28:02 AM PST by mainepatsfan
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To: mainepatsfan

Don't know yet. All I saw was this article, posted 5 minutes ago.


3 posted on 02/28/2006 7:28:33 AM PST by conservatrice
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To: conservatrice

A small win for the future unborn.


4 posted on 02/28/2006 7:28:51 AM PST by Raycpa
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To: mainepatsfan

I just reloaded the article, and it says 8-0. Click the link for more.


5 posted on 02/28/2006 7:29:09 AM PST by conservatrice
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To: conservatrice
The racketeering laws would be more correctly applied to the abortion providers.
6 posted on 02/28/2006 7:29:25 AM PST by Always Right
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To: conservatrice

So the even the pro abortion justices saw this was clearly unconstitutional.


7 posted on 02/28/2006 7:30:41 AM PST by mainepatsfan
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To: conservatrice

Thank You!

Let freedom ring.


8 posted on 02/28/2006 7:33:27 AM PST by wmfights (Lead, Follow, or get out of the Way!)
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To: Coleus; cpforlife.org; NYer; Salvation; Convert from ECUSA

Yes! Yes! YES!!


9 posted on 02/28/2006 7:33:59 AM PST by Pyro7480 (Sancte Joseph, terror daemonum, ora pro nobis!)
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To: conservatrice

And from the headline you can tell that Tony Locy, AP, sides with the pro-death crowd.


10 posted on 02/28/2006 7:34:19 AM PST by Alex Murphy (Colossians 4:5)
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To: conservatrice

8-0

the msm will still spin this as the Roberts court


11 posted on 02/28/2006 7:34:23 AM PST by wardaddy ("hillbilly car wash owner outta control")
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To: conservatrice

Sweet Jebus the constitution wins for once!


12 posted on 02/28/2006 7:34:32 AM PST by trubluolyguy (Freedom of choice? Choose to keep your damned legs closed.)
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To: conservatrice

I see Breyer wrote the majority opinion. Did he cite the laws of Uzbekistan or Paraguay? Good decision though.


13 posted on 02/28/2006 7:36:02 AM PST by marsh_of_mists
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To: conservatrice; lightingguy; cpforlife.org

Great news.


14 posted on 02/28/2006 7:36:57 AM PST by agrace
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To: wardaddy

8-0? Did Alito sit it out?


15 posted on 02/28/2006 7:37:14 AM PST by Graymatter (Not A Good German)
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To: conservatrice
The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to abortion clinics

Considering that this was over the use of anti-racketeering laws, it's interesting how the AP didn't call this a triumph for free expression, or at the very least a victory for the anti-abortion side. Not surprising, but interesting.

16 posted on 02/28/2006 7:38:39 AM PST by Darkwolf377 (No respect for conservatives? That's free speech. No respect for liberals? That's hate speech.)
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To: marsh_of_mists
I loved it when Scalia pointed out that if you want to cite foreign law than the pro abortion crowd wouldn't find much help from over seas.
17 posted on 02/28/2006 7:38:55 AM PST by mainepatsfan
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To: conservatrice

We lost another one, sisters!!
18 posted on 02/28/2006 7:39:07 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
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To: conservatrice
From the article:

The 8-0 decision ends a case that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had kept alive despite a 2003 decision by the high court that lifted a nationwide injunction on anti-abortion groups led by Joseph Scheidler and others.

I wonder if Scalia voted or not, since he is so new, he may not have had time to side.

But it is more than likely that Ginsberg abstained from voting since she is a stauch pro-abortion supporter.

19 posted on 02/28/2006 7:39:33 AM PST by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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To: Graymatter

don't know....8-0 was posted upstream


20 posted on 02/28/2006 7:39:42 AM PST by wardaddy ("hillbilly car wash owner outta control")
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