Federal Judge Strikes Down Bush Authority To Freeze Terrorist Assets

Terrorist organizations are celebrating another victory in the War on Terror courtesy California District Judge Audry Collins.

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge struck down President Bush’s authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutional and vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

The Humanitarian Law Project had challenged Bush’s order, which blocked all the assets of groups or individuals he named as “specially designated global terrorists” after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists,” said David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights that represented the group. “It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era.”

The case centered on two groups, the Liberation Tigers, which seeks a separate homeland for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan, a political organization representing the interests of Kurds in Turkey.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins enjoined the government from blocking the assets of the two groups.

Both groups consider the Nov. 21 ruling a victory; both had been designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.

Judge Collins, a Clinton appointee, ruled in favor of claims made by lawyers for the radical far left Center for Constitutional Rights. This is the same group that released a book in 2006 titled Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush.

The Center for Constitutional Rights new book, Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush, makes the case for impeaching President Bush for illegally spying on U.S. citizens, lying to the American people about the Iraq war, seizing undue executive power, and sending people to be tortured overseas. We need your help to grow this movement.

CCR also supports the efforts of many left wing organizations and agenda items including support for convicted terrorist sympathizer Lynne Stewart and the belief that Nuremberg war crime laws should have been applied to the American military in Vietnam.

The ruling wasn’t an overall loss for the government because Collins only invalidated portions of the law. The ruling let stand part of the Presidential order that would penalize those providing services to groups on the list. CCR plans to appeal those portions of the ruling that didn’t swing their way.

Judge Collins is the same judge that struck down portions of the Patriot Act in 2004.

Others:

Michelle Malkin, Stop The ACLU, Captains Quarters