April 29, 2002
High court will hear abortion protest case
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to use an abortion protest case to consider how far authorities may go in using anti-racketeering law to prosecute protesters involved in civil disobedience and violence.
___The court said April 21 it will consider appeals from Operation Rescue, anti-abortion leader Joseph Scheidler and others who were mandated in 1998 to pay damages to abortion clinics and barred from interfering with their business for a decade.
___The justices will determine whether lower courts went too far in applying the federal Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act to activities of anti-abortion protesters.
___The case will not consider the constitutionality or legality of abortion itself, but rather the application of federal extortion law and the RICO statute.
___The National Organization for Women and abortion clinics in Wilmington, Del., and Milwaukee had sued anti-abortion groups under the racketeering law to defend themselves against what they described as violent tactics. Their lawyers argued in court papers that anti-abortion protesters exaggerated the free-speech aspects of their case.
___Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, said his organization, which represents Operation Rescue in the case, looks forward to bringing the matter to the high court.
___"The court has an opportunity to remove a cloud that has been hanging over those who wish to express their opposition to abortion in a peaceful and non-violent manner," Sekulow said. "It is clear that a federal statute designed for drug dealers and organized crime has been misapplied and used as a powerful weapon to silence the pro-life message."
___The case will be scheduled for oral arguments in the term that begins in the fall.
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