[Infowarrior] - Judge Strikes Down Bush on Terror Groups

[Richard Forno]

Judge Strikes Down Bush on Terror Groups
Judge strikes President Bush's authority to designate terrorist groups,
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29, 2006
By LINDA DEUTSCH AP Special Correspondent

    
(AP) A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate
groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was
unconstitutionally 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.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/29/ap/national/mainD8LMFCG01.shtml