Last year, a federal jury in Texas deadlocked on all charges against the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and most of the charges against five of its leaders. HLF was designated as a supporter of terrorism in 2001, shut down and had its assets frozen. And now, the retrial is reportedly moving along. The Dallas Morning News reports that this is expected to be the final week of the prosecution's case before the defense begins.

"To get convictions, prosecutors need to convince jurors that Holy Land sent millions of dollars to Palestinian charity groups, known as zakat committees, knowing that they were controlled by Hamas after the U.S. designated it as a terrorist group in 1995." However, such charitable committees are not designated by the U.S. government. The article states that Georgetown University professor and terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman, "told jurors that 'almost without exception,' successful terrorist groups throughout history have relied on charitable front groups to raise money and build good will among those they seek to control." This only continues the tenuous, at least to the public, assertion coming from the Treasury Department, that charities are a significant source of terrorist financing.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has challenged the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments of 2008, which grants telecommunication companies retroactive immunity for helping with the government's warrantless surveillance program. EFF argues that the FISA Amendments Act violates the federal government's separation of powers as established in the Constitution. The challenge also says the law deprives telecom customers of their rights without due process of law.

BNA Money and Politics ($$) reports; "Pending before the court are consolidated lawsuits against leading phone carriers accused of facilitating illegal surveillance activities in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Justice Department is seeking to have the cases dismissed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments of 2008, which allows carriers to receive retroactive immunity for any aid they provided to the government."

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has recently released the 2007 Terrorist Assets Report to Congress. The report details that $336.2 million of seized assets allegedly related to terrorism is currently being held by Treasury. Of that, $20.7 million originated with foreign terror¬ist organizations, a category that includes charitable organizations. This number is up from $16.4 million detailed in the 2006 report. It also reports that $315.5 million originated with designated state sponsors of terrorism. We do not know how much of the frozen $20.7 million originated as charitable assets. However, OMB Watch along with charitable and nonprofit organizations have called on Treasury to release frozen funds belonging to charities designated as supporters of terrorism "to trustworthy aid agencies that can ensure the funds are used for their intended charitable purposes."

Kindhearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development sued the federal government in response to the Treasury Department freezing the group's assets in 2006, requesting that the block is lifted while the group challenges the process used in designating organizations as terrorist groups. According to court papers; "[t]this lawsuit arises out of an order by the Office of Foreign Assets Control ('OFAC') that has resulted in the freezing of all assets of a Toledo-based charity for more than two and a half years—without any notice of the basis for the freeze, any hearing, any finding of wrongdoing, or any meaningful opportunity to respond to the freeze."

The Toledo Blade reports; "The lawsuit challenges the freeze on its assets and the pending investigation as well as the whole process used by the government when dealing with organizations such as the charity. The complaint added that the government's actions have violated KindHeart's constitutional rights by undermining its ability to defend itself by controlling its financial assets."

The group was granted a temporary restraining order barring the government from designating KindHearts as a terrorist group without further judicial review. According to an ACLU press release, "James G. Carr of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Western Division blocked the government from designating the organization as a specially designated global terrorist 'without first affording KindHearts with constitutionally adequate process,' including notice and a meaningful opportunity to contest the basis for such a designation."

In Maryland, 53 nonviolent activists, primarily opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war, were classified as terrorists in 2005 and 2006. Their names and personal information were entered into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects. The Washington Post reports that the surveillance took place over 14 months. "The former state police superintendent who authorized the operation, Thomas E. Hutchins, defended the program in testimony yesterday. Hutchins said the program was a bulwark against potential violence and called the activists 'fringe people.'" The police superintendent said protest groups were entered as terrorist organizations in the databases, but his staff has not identified which ones.

This could have far reaching consequences, especially if any of those activists happen to try and buy a car for example. A report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area from 2007 details how ordinary citizens have had difficulties in obtaining a loan, purchasing a car, and even purchasing exercise equipment.