High court rules unanimously for pro-life protesters
- Feb 28, 2006 -
A unanimous Supreme Court struck a blow for free speech Feb. 28, ruling a law targeting mobsters cannot be used against pro-life protesters.
The high court said a federal anti-racketeering law does not apply to protests outside abortion clinics, seemingly bringing closure to a court battle that began nearly 20 years earlier.
In 2003, the justices ruled 8-1 the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which focused on organized crime, did not apply to such protests. The high court said the pro-lifers did not violate the anti-racketeering law because their activities did not qualify as extortion under a 1946 measure.
When it was returned to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, however, the appellate judges agreed with the National Organization for Women’s argument the high court had not addressed four acts NOW said involved threats of violence. The pro-life protesters—Joseph Scheidler, national director of the Pro-life Action League, and Operation Rescue—appealed to the Supreme Court, and the justices again agreed to accept the case.
This time, the high court affirmed its earlier decision and ordered the lower court to find in favor of the pro-lifers. In its 8-0 decision, the Supreme Court said violence, or the threat of violence, that is not connected to extortion or robbery “falls outside the scope of the Hobbs Act,” the federal anti-extortion law.
“We conclude that Congress did not intend to create a freestanding physical violence offense in the Hobbs Act,” Associate Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the court.
ERLC President Richard Land called the opinion “good news from the Supreme Court both for pro-life supporters and for those who are encouraged when sanity takes hold of our court system.”
“It was outrageous to ever have a court suggest that the RICO laws, which were meant to bust racketeers and the Mafia, should be used for pro-life protesters exercising their First Amendment right of freedom of speech,” he said. “We can take comfort in the fact that this was a unanimous decision. Even the pro-choice justices couldn’t stomach this horrendous abuse of the law against the pro-life movement.”
New Associate Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the opinion, since he was not involved in the oral arguments and other consideration of the case. Retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was on the court when it heard oral arguments in the case in November. Alito replaced her when he was confirmed by the Senate Jan. 31.
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