Humanitarian Law Project v. Gonzales

• Decision Date: 25 July 2005
• Docket Number: No. CV03-6107ABCRCX.,No. CV98-1971ABCRCX.,CV98-1971ABCRCX.,CV03-6107ABCRCX.
• Citation: 380 F.Supp.2d 1134
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California
• Parties: HUMANITARIAN LAW PROJECT, et al., Plaintiffs v. Alberto GONZALES, et al., Defendants.

Page 1134

380 F.Supp.2d 1134

HUMANITARIAN LAW PROJECT, et al., Plaintiffs v. Alberto GONZALES, et al., Defendants.

No. CV98-1971ABCRCX.

No. CV03-6107ABCRCX.

United States District Court, C.D. California, Western Division.

July 25, 2005.

Carol Sobel, Santa Monica, CA, Paul Hoffman, Venice, CA, Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, New York, NY, David Cole, Georgetown University Law Center, Center for Constitutional Rights, Washington, D.C., Nancy Chang, Shayana Devendra Kadidal, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Dilan Esper, Los Angeles, CA, David Anderson, John Tyler, Peter Keisler, Sandra Schraibman, Martha Rubio, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., Ann Beeson, Jameel Jaffer, Melissa Goodman, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, for Defendants.

ORDER RE: PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS AND MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

COLLINS, District Judge.

This action involves a challenge to portions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. Specifically, the parties seek summary judgment regarding the constitutionality of the prohibition on providing material support or resources, including "training," "expert advice or assistance," "personnel," and "service," to designated foreign terrorist organizations.

The Humanitarian Law Project, Ralph Fertig, Ilankai Thamil Sangam, Dr. Nagalingam Jeyalingam, World Tamil Coordinating Committee, Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, and Tamil Welfare and Human Rights Committee (collectively, "Plaintiffs") desire to provide support for the lawful activities of two organizations that have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Plaintiffs seek summary judgment and an injunction to prohibit the enforcement of the criminal ban on providing material support to such organizations. Alberto Gonzales (in his official capacity as United States Attorney General), the United States Department of Justice, Condoleeza Rice (in her official capacity as Secretary of the Department of State), and the United States Department of State (collectively, "Defendants") bring a motion to dismiss and cross-motion for summary judgment. After considering the parties' submissions, the arguments of counsel, and the case file, the Court hereby DENIES Defendants' motion to dismiss and GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The background of this case is well known to the parties and to the Court and need not be recited at length here. Plaintiffs are five organizations and two United States citizens seeking to provide support to the lawful, nonviolent activities of the Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers' Party) ("PKK") and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ("LTTE"). The PKK and the LTTE have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations.

The PKK is a political organization representing the interests of the Kurds in Turkey, with the goal of achieving self-determination for the Kurds in Southeastern Turkey. Plaintiffs allege that the Turkish government has subjected the Kurds to human rights abuses and discrimination for decades. The PKK's efforts on behalf of the Kurds include political organizing and advocacy, providing social services and humanitarian aid to Kurdish refugees, and engaging in military combat with Turkish armed forces.

Plaintiffs wish to support the PKK's lawful and nonviolent activities towards achieving self-determination. Specifically, Plaintiffs seek to provide training in the use of humanitarian and international law for the peaceful resolution of disputes, engage in political advocacy on behalf of the Kurds living in Turkey, and teach the PKK how to petition for relief before representative bodies like the United Nations.

The LTTE represents the interests of Tamils in Sri Lanka, with the goal of achieving self-determination for the Tamil residents of Tamil Eelam in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Plaintiffs allege that the Tamils constitute an ethnic group that has for decades been subjected to human rights abuses and discriminatory treatment by the Sinhalese, who have governed Sri Lanka since the nation gained its independence in 1948. The LTTE's activities include political organizing and advocacy, providing social services and humanitarian aid, defending the Tamil people from human rights abuses, and using military force against the government of Sri Lanka.

Plaintiffs wish to support the LTTE's lawful and nonviolent activities towards furthering the human rights and well-being of Tamils in Sri Lanka. In particular, Plaintiffs emphasize the desperately increased need for aid following the tsunamis that devastated the Sri Lanka region in December 2004, especially in Tamil areas along the Northeast Coast. Plaintiffs seek to provide training in the presentation of claims to mediators and international bodies for tsunami-related aid, offer legal expertise in negotiating peace agreements between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government, and engage in political advocacy on behalf of Tamils living in Sri Lanka.

In 1996, Congress enacted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (the "AEDPA") proscribing all material support and resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations in the interests of law enforcement and national security. Specifically, the AEDPA sought to prevent the United States from becoming a base for terrorist fundraising. Congress recognized that terrorist groups are often structured to include political or humanitarian components in addition to terrorist components. Such an organizational structure allows terrorist groups to raise funds under the guise of political or humanitarian causes. Those funds can then be diverted to terrorist activities.

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York, Congress enacted the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (the "USA PATRIOT Act") and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (the "IRTPA") in 2001 and 2004, respectively, to further its goal of eliminating material support or resources to foreign terrorist organizations. The USA PATRIOT Act and the IRTPA amended the AEDPA.

While Plaintiffs are committed to providing the above-mentioned support, they fear doing so would expose them to criminal prosecution under the AEDPA for providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations. Accordingly, Plaintiffs challenge the portion of the AEDPA, as amended by the IRTPA, providing as follows:

Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life.

18 U.S.C. § 2339B(a).

The AEDPA, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act and the IRTPA, defines "material support or resources" as:

any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals who may be or include oneself), and transportation except medicine or religious materials.

18 U.S.C. § 2339A(b)(1) (emphasis added).

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The procedural history of the cases before the Court is somewhat complex.

A. Case No. 98-1971

Plaintiffs first filed a complaint on March 19, 1998 in Case No. 98-1971, in which they alleged that the AEDPA violated the First and Fifth Amendments. Specifically, Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of the AEDPA against them for three reasons: (1) the AEDPA's prohibition on providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations violated the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and association; (2) the AEDPA unconstitutionally granted the Secretary of State unfettered discretion to designate disfavored organizations as foreign terrorist organizations; and (3) the terms "training" and "personnel" were impermissibly vague under the Fifth Amendment. The Court rejected most of Plaintiffs' arguments, instead finding that the AEDPA neither violated the First Amendment nor allowed the Secretary of State unfettered discretion to blacklist organizations. However, the Court agreed in part with Plaintiffs' arguments regarding vagueness and, therefore, preliminarily enjoined the prosecution of Plaintiffs and their members under the AEDPA's prohibition on providing "training" and "personnel" to foreign terrorist organizations. See Humanitarian Law Project v. Reno, 9 F.Supp.2d 1176 (C.D.Cal.1998) ("District Court-HLP I").

On March 3, 2000, the Ninth Circuit affirmed this Court's order. See Humanitarian Law Project v. Reno, 205 F.3d 1130 (9th Cir.2000) ("HLP I"). In response, this Court issued a permanent injunction on October 2, 2001, which the Ninth Circuit upheld on December 3, 2003. See Humanitarian Law Project v. United States Department of Justice, 352 F.3d 382 (9th Cir.2003) ("HLP II"), vacated, 393 F.3d 902 (9th Cir.2004). In addition to upholding this Court's conclusion that "training" and "personnel" are impermissibly vague, the Ninth Circuit's ruling in HLP II construed the AEDPA to require that the donor of material support have knowledge that the recipient either had been designated as a foreign terrorist organization or engaged in terrorist activities. Subsequently, the Ninth Circuit voted to rehear the three-judge panel's ruling in HLP II en banc. See Humanitarian Law Project v. United States Department of State, 382 F.3d 1154 (...