Holy Land Foundation and Civil Rights
" In this country, in the last two centuries, there have been many cases that test the judiciary and test our commitment to civil liberty.” We have seen in our history that civil liberties are NOT always protected and that government and government agencies have been the primary violaters of civil and human rights. And when this happens, the ability for individuals to seek remedy from their government is often unatainable. The case against the Holy Land Foundation is just one instance when our promised liberties under the pledge of the constitution go undermined or ignored. Take a look at some the civil liberties that the Holy Land Foundation was denied and other unique and historical cases.
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United States v. Holy Land Foundation
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Where: Texas
WHEN: December 4th 2001 PRESIDENCY: George W. Bush Federal agents entered HLF office, shut down the charity by seizing their assets and freezing their money under designation of the Treasury Department designating the HLF a terrorist organization. In 2002 the defense challenged the designation bringing attention to the federal court constitutional violations against the HLF Violation of Constitutional Civil Rights:
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WHERE: California
WHEN: December 18th 1944 PRESIDENCY: Franklin D. Roosevelt Fred Korematsu was a Japanese American who went into hiding in Oakland after refusing to enter a Japanese interment camp after it was ordered by the US Government for all citizens of Japanese descent. After been arrested not long after Korematsu was trialed and convicted of violating public law. After being sentenced 5 years of probation he was with his family to live in an internment camp in Utah. Violation of Constitutional Civil Rights:
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Korematsu v. United States
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Dred Scott v. Standford
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WHERE: Missouri
WHEN: March 6th 1857 PRESIDENCY: James Buchanan Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri who later resided in Illinois and in an area of the Louisiana Territory where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After returning to Missouri, Scott sued unsuccessfully in the Missouri courts for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man. Chief Justice Taney's ruled that African Americans, slave or free, were not citizens. Thus as a slave Scott was property and had no right to bring suit in federal courts. Violation of Constitutional Civil Rights:
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WHERE: Louisiana
WHEN: April 13th 1896 PRESIDENCY: Grover Cleavland Homer Adolph Plessy was a businessman living in Baton Rouge who in a an attempt to challenge Jim Crow Laws by intentionally broke the law by riding the "white-only" area of a street car. After he was arrested for refusing to sit in the segregated area of the train he was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine. With the support of the Committee of Citizens his appeal was brought to the Supreme court where the ruling was upheld.
. Violation of Constitutional Civil Rights:
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Plessy v. Ferguson
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Chinese Exclusionary Act
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WHERE: United States
WHEN: between 1882 and 1904 PRESIDENCY: Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt The eight Chinese Exclusion Laws developed at the peek of anti-Chinese sentiment in the United Sates that banned Chinese immigration. The addition of the Scott's Act prevented the retry of Chinese people if they were citizens or not. More often than not, the Supreme court state that the refusal of entry at the borader does not require due process of Law. Violation of Constitutional Civil Rights:
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*note: all pictures taken from Google Images.