I'm starting to think we need to begin impeachihg judges who inhibit national security. U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins strikes me as a good candidate to start with.

A federal judge has ruled that some provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act dealing with foreign terrorist organizations remain too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence and are therefore unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins found that Congress failed to remedy all the problems she defined in a 2004 ruling that struck down key provisions of the act. Her decision was handed down Thursday and released Friday.

"Even as amended, the statute fails to identify the prohibited conduct in a manner that persons of ordinary intelligence can reasonably understand," the ruling said.

Collins issued an injunction against enforcement of the sections she found vague but specified that her ruling applies only to the named plaintiffs and does not constitute a nationwide injunction.

"I'm pleased that the court has recognized that people have a right to support lawful, nonviolent activities of groups the secretary of state has put on a blacklist," said David Cole, the attorney and Georgetown University law professor who argued the case on behalf of the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Humanitarian Law Project.

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"The court finds that the terms 'training,''expert advice or assistance' in the form of 'specialized knowledge' and 'service' are impermissibly vague under the Fifth Amendment," the judge concluded at the end of 42-page decision.

Excuse me, but given that money is fungible and knowledge and skills can be used to aid terrorist activities, it would strike me that ANY assistance to a terrorist organization constitutes impermissible aid. If they are on the list, there you can't give them money, give them assistance, or do work for them. PERIOD.

So I guess it is now permissible for someone to go set up a computer network for al-Qaeda and design their websites. Yeah, it may aid in terrorist activity, but you can't really understand that it violates the law.

Posted by: Greg at 03:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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