{"id":3488,"date":"2012-10-01T06:41:28","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T10:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/?p=3488"},"modified":"2020-08-30T13:49:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T17:49:44","slug":"al_haramain_v_treasury_summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/archive\/al_haramain_v_treasury_summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Haramain v. Treasury: Successful Constitutional Challenge to Unlimited Treasury Power to Shut Down Charities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>The government is appealing the decision of the federal district court in Oregon that found Treasury&#8217;s procedures in listing and shutting down the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation of Oregon to be unconstitutional. \u00a0On March 9, 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case. Here are the briefs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/16%20APPELLANTS%27%20OPENING%20BRIEF.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Appellant&#8217;s Opening Brief\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/22%20DEF%20MOTION%20FOR%20FILING%20UNDER%20SEAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Defendants Motion for Filing Under Seal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/23%20AHIF%20OPP%20TO%20MOTION%20FOR%20FILING%20UNDER%20SEAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AHIF Opposition to Motion for Filing Under Seal\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/24%20GOVT%20APPELLATE%20BRIEF.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Government Appellate Brief\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/30%20APPELLANTS%20REPLY%20BRIEF%20%28OCT%20%2027%202010%29.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Appellants Reply Brief\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/AHIF%20V%20%20USDOT%209THCIR%20RELEASE%20FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AHIF v. USDOT 9th Circuit Final Release\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/AHIF%20V%20OFAC%209TH%20CIR%20PRESS%20RELEASE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AHIF v. OFAC 9th Circuit Press Release<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Older documents:<\/p>\n<p>The court&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bernabeipllc.com\/pdfs\/Opinion.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ruling.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p>In June 2012, the U.S. Solicitor General\u00a0decided not to file a request\u00a0for Supreme Court review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in\u00a0<em>Al-Haramain v. Treasury<\/em>.\u00a0The\u00a0appellate court opinion\u00a0from September 2011 had upheld alower court\u2019s ruling\u00a0that said procedures used by the Department of Treasury to shut down the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation of Oregon (AHIF-OR) violated the organization&#8217;s Fifth Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights.\u00a0 In February 2004, federal agents raided AHIF-OR&#8217;s offices pursuant to a warrant as part of an investigation into financial crimes.\u00a0The next day OFAC froze AHIF-OR&#8217;s assets pending an investigation into whether or not the charity would be classified as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).<\/p>\n<p>In November 2008,\u00a0a district court in Oregon ruled\u00a0that the Fifth Amendment&#8217;s guarantee of due process requires Treasury to give adequate notice of the reasons it puts a group on the terrorist list, as well as a meaningful opportunity to respond.\u00a0In addition, the court ruled that freezing the groups assets amounts to a seizure under the Fourth Amendment.\u00a0Judge Garr King also ruled that the term &#8220;material support&#8221; of terrorism in Bush&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"\/blog\/time_update_eo_13224\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Executive Order 13224<\/a>, which grants the Secretary of Treasury power to designate SDGTs, is unconstitutionally vague.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to pursuing charges against the charity, the government also pursued money laundering and tax evasion charges against Pete Seda, the head of AHIF-OR.\u00a0 He was convicted in late 2010 and\u00a0began his 33-month prison sentence\u00a0in February 2012.<\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 1, 2004 Treasury&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Al Haramain charities in six countries to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).\u00a0Other AHIF organizations remained unlisted, including those based in Oregon and Saudi Arabia.\u00a0After raiding AHIF-OR and seizing its assets in February 2012,\u00a0 OFAC issued a press release announcing the freeze, but did not state the reasons for it or obtain a court order authorizing it.<\/p>\n<p>The Fifth Amendment&#8217;s due process clause requires the government to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard before depriving a person or organization of their property. The Court determined there was a violation of AHIF-Oregon&#8217;s due process rights because Treasury failed to provide\u00a0<i>notice<\/i>\u00a0for eight months between the time it froze \u00a0AHIF&#8217;s assets &#8220;pending investigation&#8221; in February 2004, and the designation of the organization as an SDGT in September 2004.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Court found a potential violation of AHIF-Oregon&#8217;s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable seizures. The judge ruled that the freezing order against AHIF-Oregon did constitute a seizure and, unless the government&#8217;s actions were reasonable, the government violated the Fourth Amendment. However, it has not yet been decided whether the government&#8217;s actions were reasonable because the Court has ordered additional arguments. (This issue was later decided in\u00a0<i><a href=\"\/litigation\/kindhearts_ruling_summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kindhearts v. Treasury<\/a>.<\/i>)<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the Court ruled that the term &#8220;material support&#8221; is unconstitutionally vague, meaning that the term is not clear enough to where a person of common intelligence could be sure of its meaning.\u00a0\u00a0 The Treasury&#8217;s definition of &#8220;material support&#8221;\u00a0was confusing, lacked\u00a0context for how the term should\u00a0be understood,\u00a0and did not have a set of standards\u00a0in place as to\u00a0how the term\u00a0would be used.\u00a0 Therefore the &#8220;material support&#8221; provision in EO 13224 was struck down by the District\u00a0Court, but itis still in effect pending a final decision by the courts after appeal, or a new order by the current administration.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Al Haramain v. 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