New York, NY, November 23, 2009 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged the nation's highest court to uphold laws prohibiting the supply of material support or resources to foreign terrorist organizations.

The League submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Holder, et al. v. Humanitarian Law Project, et al. arguing that all activities of terrorist organizations are inextricably linked, and that a prohibition on material support for these organizations is constitutional.

"Any material support lent to terrorist organizations -- whether in the form of monetary funding or expert training -- helps enable those groups to maximize their assets and potentially grants them undeserved legitimacy and credibility," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "There is no inalienable right to provide resources to a foreign terrorist organization.  Those that knowingly do so are facilitating terrorism and must be held accountable."

Holder, et al. v. Humanitarian Law Project, et al. analyzes whether prohibitions in the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 on providing "training," "expert advice or assistance" and/or "service" to foreign terrorist organizations, are unconstitutionally vague. 

ADL's friend-of-the-court brief was prepared by Chadbourne & Parke LLP, and is available here.

ADL previously appeared as Amicus Curiae in a 1998 proceeding before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Humanitarian Law Project v. Reno, asserting that resources proffered by U.S. donors to foreign terrorist organizations facilitate terrorism even when the donations are directed to the humanitarian efforts of those organizations.