Decision of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
The constitutionality of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and its 2004 amendment, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act
We are once again called upon to decide the constitutionality of Sections 302 and 303 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and its 2004 amendment, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA). Specific Intent In their prior appeals, Plaintiffs argued that AEDPA Section 2339B(a) violates their Fifth Amendment due process rights because that section does not require proof of mens rea (criminal intent) to convict a person for providing “material support or resources” to a designated foreign terrorist organization. We read the statute to require that the donor of the “material support or resources” have knowledge…
