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High court weighs use of racketeering laws on protesters

At issue are sit-ins and demonstrations that block access to abortion clinics.

By Tanya Albert, amednews staff. May 20, 2002.

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Nearly two decades into a legal fight over demonstration tactics used at abortion clinics, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to take up the question of whether protesters can be sued under laws designed to fight organized crime.

The National Organization for Women, which along with two clinics filed the suit going before the high court, says organized crime laws will help shield clinic physicians, nurses, employees and patients from violence by activists who go beyond speech protected by the First Amendment. The suit was filed against Operation Rescue, the Pro-Life Action League and anti-abortion demonstrators.

But anti-abortion protesters say the threat of being sued under the organized crime laws would hamper political expression. And other groups have concerns about how the decision could curb their protests. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Southern Leadership Conference, actor Martin Sheen and other political protesters agreed in friend-of-the-court briefs.

"It's a matter that needs to be handled with care," said Walter Weber, senior litigation counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based American Center for Law, a nonprofit, public interest law firm arguing the case for anti-abortion protesters. "We pride ourselves on existing policies. If you get arrested, you spend a night in jail and get fined."

If protesters can be sued under organized crime laws, he said, the legal system would treat them as hard-core criminals subject to longer jail sentences and stiff financial penalties. [...]