WASHINGTON, April 23, 2002 (LSN.ca) – A release from the Pro-life Action League gives more detail on the upcoming US Supreme Court review of the NOW v. Scheidler federal RICO national class action. The action was launched by the National Organization for Women and the abortion industry against Joseph M. Scheidler, Tim Murphy and Andrew Scholberg and the Pro-Life Action League, along with Operation Rescue.
The Court will consider: (i) whether injunctive relief – which may include remedies such as dissolution or dismemberment of enterprises – may be available in “racketeering” lawsuits brought by private parties as well as by the federal government, and (ii) whether acts of civil disobedience by political protesters, such as sit-ins or blockades, constitute the federal felony crime of “extortion,” so that a “pattern” of such crimes may be held “racketeering.”
In separate orders, the Court also permitted the filing of amicus curiae briefs – to which NOW and the abortion clinics had objected – by a host of political protest groups, protesters, coalitions, and academics. These include the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Sojourners, Pax Christi USA, Not Dead Yet, Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Vieques Support Committee, Voices in the Wilderness, the Berrigan brothers, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, Howard Zinn, Martin Sheen, and the Seamless Garment Network. An hour was set aside for oral argument on a date to be fixed later, presumably during October Term 2002.
The findings of lower courts on the matter have serious consequences for other social movements which rely on protests, demonstrations and strong rhetoric to spread their message and effect social change.
See the Amicus briefs filed on behalf of the pro-life groups: https://www.prolifeaction.org/amicus_briefs.htm