Racketeering Law Doesn't Apply to Pro-life Protesters

8-1 Ruling a Victory for Operation Rescue and Joseph Scheidler

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 26, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 
that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used against pro-life 
protesters sued for engaging in a nationwide plan to shut down abortion 
clinics.

The court's 8-1 ruling applies to protests of all sorts, not just at 
abortion clinics, the Associated Press said. The decision lifts a nationwide 
injunction that barred people from interfering with abortion-clinic 
business.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, writing for the majority, said that when 
protesters do not "obtain" property, they cannot be punished under federal 
extortion laws.

The ruling was a victory for Operation Rescue, pro-life leader Joseph 
Scheidler and others, news services said. They were sued by the National 
Organization for Women and others for tactics to block access to clinics.

The court's ruling is a victory for Operation Rescue, pro-life leader Joseph 
Scheidler and others who had been ordered to pay damages to abortion clinics 
and were barred from interfering with their businesses for 10 years. Today's 
ruling ends that injunction.

Numerous friend-of-the-court briefs had said that if abortion protests were 
labeled as extortion, then all protest would be imperiled, the Washington 
Times said in December.

The punishments against the pro-lifers were meted out under provisions of 
the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, 
and the Hobbs Act, a 1946 law aimed at crushing organized crime.

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