California Conservative

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the RICO statute couldn’t be used to “against protesters at abortion clinics.” Predictably, both sides had immediate reactions to the ruling:

Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, charged that by vacating a nationwide injunction against abortion clinic protesters “on narrow, technical grounds, the Supreme Court sided today with thugs and bullies, not peaceful protesters.” Mrs. Gandy held that the injunction “contributed to the dramatic reduction in clinic violence that we have witnessed in recent years.” She noted that the 1998 injunction was imposed after a Chicago jury found that clinic demonstrators had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by interfering with clinic operations, damaging clinic property, menacing doctors and assaulting patients. Mrs. Gandy said that if yesterday’s ruling “ushers in a return to clinic violence in the United States, NOW stands ready to fight in every jurisdiction.”

Pro-lifers exulted in the decision.

“Naturally, I am gratified to be vindicated once again by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Joseph M. Scheidler, national director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League and petitioner in the case, Scheidler vs. NOW. He said the Supreme Court was “right” in 2003 when it initially lifted a nationwide injunction against clinic protests by pro-life groups. “But NOW refused to acknowledge defeat. They convinced the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the case alive in spite of the Supreme Court’s clear mandate to end it,” Mr. Scheidler said.

Frankly, it’s more than melodramatic for NOW to say that “clinic demonstrators had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by interfering with clinic operations, damaging clinic property, menacing doctors and assaulting patients” or that the Supreme Court’s ruling might usher in “a return to clinic violence in the United States…”

If she didn’t think it might lead to increased violence, then the only other explanation for her saying that was to play the ‘fear card’. I guess that that’s certainly possible considering the circumstances. (more…)