Animal rights anti-terror law challenged

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department's crackdown on animal rights protesters is facing a court challenge over its constitutionality, observers say.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose, Calif., Monday was considering a legal challenge brought by civil libertarians against the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which was employed for the first time this year against four people charged with threatening University of California researchers, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Before Whyte were motions to dismiss the case on grounds the law abridges free speech and is unconstitutionally vague. Prosecutors, however, say the law does not restrict free speech but only applies to criminal conduct, the newspaper reported.

The law was enacted by Congress in 2006 after a series of violent protests at UC-San Francisco between 2001 and 2005 and bombings at area biotechnology firms.

The Mercury News said Joseph Buddenberg, Maryam Khajavi, Nathan Pope and Adriana Stumpo were charged under the animal terrorism law for allegedly conspiring to "use force, violence or threats to interfere with the operation" of the University of California's animal research programs.