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Obama, the US Supreme Court and a slippery-slope

Who would have thought that the Obama Administration would actively support, and advocate, for what the US Supreme Court has now just decided.

The decision represents a dangerous slippery-slope when Governments can act as the US will now be able to. Bear this in mind as you read the report of the court decision in "Court Affirms Ban on Aiding Groups Tied to Terror" in The New York Times.........at one time Sinn Fein was a banned organisation. Not now!

"In a case pitting free speech against national security, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a federal law that makes it a crime to provide “material support” to foreign terrorist organizations, even if the help takes the form of training for peacefully resolving conflicts.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority in the 6-to-3 decision, said the law’s prohibition of providing some types of intangible assistance to groups the State Department says engage in terrorism did not violate the First Amendment.

The decision was the court’s first ruling on the free speech and associations rights of Americans in the context of terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks. The law has been an important tool for prosecutors: Since 2001, the government says, it has charged about 150 defendants for violating the material-support provision, obtaining about 75 convictions."

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