Federal Judges Slows Administration Attempts to Shut Down Charities

November 30, 2006

In a significant development on the right of charitable giving, a federal judge ruled that the Bush administration violated the U.S. Constitution when it froze the assets of more than two dozen alleged terrorist groups after the 9/11 attacks. The ruling held that an executive order President Bush issued on Sept. 24, 2001, designating 27 groups and individuals as "specially designated global terrorists", was "unconstitutionally vague" and flawed because it failed to explain the criteria used to make the designations and included no process to challenge the decision.

SEE: "Judge Faults Bush Order on Terror Groups" (Associated Press, 11/29/06)

The challenge brought to the federal courts was based on the premise that domestic political groups in the U.S. can support humanitarian causes in troubled regions without supporting terrorism. Specifically, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins ruled against freezing the assets of two political organizations with purported ties to terrorist groups based in Sri Lanka and Kurdistan. The lawsuit focused on two of the groups whose assets were frozen as a result of the executive order. The Liberation Tigers of Sri Lanka and the Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan (PKK) are both known to have committed terrorist activities, according to the State Department, but also have independent political or humanitarian entities. The ruling prohibits the Administration from seizing the assets of the group's non-violent political entities.

Over the past five years, the Bush Administration has designated several charities "specially designated terrorist groups" under Executive Order 13224. As a result of the designation, several U.S. charities have been effectively shut down without any checks or balances from Congress or the Judiciary. Since the War on Terror began, a handful of Muslim American charities have had their operations suspended by government action (including having their assets frozen). To date, such efforts have not yielded a single conviction of anyone involved with the designated charities for terrorist financing or support. Those charities have either been shut down or have been under more scrutiny because of their desire to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in particular. Even Yusuf Islam and Tariq Ramadan have been denied entry to the United States for supporting Palestinian humanitarian efforts in recent years.

While the issue of charitable giving, free of government intrusion and harassment, is far from being settled, Judge Collins' decision to challenge the Bush Administration on unfettered designations of charities is a positive step. With Congressional leadership set to change hands in January, MPAC will continue to call upon the Judiciary and Congress to conduct proper oversight to ensure that American tax dollars are not wasted on cases that are based on nothing more than guilt by association and religious profiling. MPAC also continues to work in coalition with a broad array of Muslim and secular non-profit organizations to call for the release of frozen assets of Muslim charities.

MPAC is committed to working to advance effective and lawful policies which also respect the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans. Founded in 1988, MPAC is a public service agency working for the civil rights of American Muslims, for the integration of Islam into American pluralism, and for a positive, constructive relationship between American Muslims and their representatives.