NOT RACKETEERS: In an 8-to-1 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court decided February 26 that pro-lifers can protest outside abortion clinics without being stripped of all their earthly possessions. The court decided that blocking a clinic entrance does not amount to "extortion," the only crime listed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) that could remotely apply to pro-life demonstrators. A lower court had ruled that by temporarily preventing the use of a clinic, pro-lifers had committed "extortion," which requires that the perpetrator "obtain" the property of another through threat or use of force. The lower court had levied $85,000 in damages (which would have been tripled under RICO) against the pro-life defendants, but Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in his majority opinion that since the protesters had not "obtained" the clinic, they had not committed "extortion" and could not be subjected to a RICO suit. The decision should free the defendants, including veteran pro-life activist Joe Scheidler of Chicago's Pro-Life Action League, from the fear of personal bankruptcy. "It was outside a federal courtroom at a NOW press conference where I heard Patricia Ireland declare, 'We will destroy these people . . . take away their homes . . . their cars.' And destroy pro-life protestors they nearly did," said Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America. "After years and years of litigation and the disgrace of being declared a racketeer, Joe Scheidler, fearless champion for the unborn, has finally been vindicated." Scheidler and his wife had been forced to put their home in escrow pending possible forfeiture if the case had gone differently.
YEMENIS CHARGED: On March 4, two Yemenis arrested in Germany in January were charged in New York with assisting al Qaeda and Hamas. The government's complaint alleges that some of the money collected for the terrorist groups came from a mosque in Brooklyn. The government has asked Germany to extradite Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed.
RICHARDSON WISE: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's reputation as a rare tax-cutting Democrat continues to grow. Elected last year, Richardson has already signed a tax cut package for his state. Now, even as his party's presidential candidates are campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire in opposition to President Bush's tax cut proposal, Richardson is urging the national Democratic Party to embrace his own willingness to cut taxes. "I believe the Democratic Party has to be open to tax cuts and economic incentives," he told columnist Donald Lambro (March 3). Lambro reported that Richardson "warns that, if the Democrats do not stop waging class warfare on the rich, they 'will lose' next year's elections." Richardson says he cut taxes to stimulate his state's economy and "to be competitive with Arizona and Colorado, who have a personal income tax at 5% and we were at 8%." Richardson has run ads in the Wall Street Journal that say, "A Democratic governor? Who cuts taxes? By 40%? Hey, we've been telling you it's different in New Mexico." His tax cuts target not only the lower- and middle-classes but affluent New Mexicans as well. So far his message is falling on deaf ears among fellow Democrats. At the recent DNC winter meeting, where Richardson spoke, liberal House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) was overheard to say: "Tax cuts do not create jobs."
TANCREDO TRIES: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.), chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, has reintroduced his Mass Immigration Reduction Act (HR 946) in the new Congress. The bill calls a "timeout" on legal immigration so that the federal government can reform its overall immigration policy and secure the border. Said Tancredo, "The age of mass immigration began in 1965, with legislation that dramatically increased the number of immigrants allowed into America each year. As a nation of immigrants, each of us can trace our roots to another country, but it is not correct to argue that today's immigration level is comparable to traditional levels." Co-sponsors so far include Rep. Sam Johnson (R.-Tex.), Rep. Steve King (R.-N.Y.), Rep. Charlie Norwood (R.-Ga.), Rep. Nathan Deal (R.-Ga.), Rep. Jim Duncan (R.-Tenn.), and Rep. Virgil Goode (R.-Va.).
THREE STRIKES LIVES: By a 5-to-4 margin, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the left-wing 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and preserved California's "three strikes" sentencing law on March 5. In Lockyer v. Andrade, the court upheld the two consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences meted out to Leandro Andrade, who had been convicted of stealing videotapes after previous convictions for selling drugs, burglaries, and escaping from prison. Andrade argued that his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution's 8th Amendment.
