ABSTRACT
Congress wrote an intentionally vague and loosely worded law in 1970 as a tool to combat organized crime--the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The American legal system being what it is, RICO was soon put to more imaginative uses. It's civil provisions-triple damages and the opportunity to smear somebody as a racketeer-made it a favorite among plaintiffs' lawyers. And a chorus of voices, left and right, warned that it was just a matter of time before someone managed to use RICO against political protestors. Thanks to the ever-broadening language of RICO decisions, it could also be used against non-violent protests and simple sit-ins. If RICO had been written a decade earlier, segregationists would surely have used it to cut the legs out from under the civil rights movement. The ACLU really ought to make an effort to recapture the clarity and principled position it staked out in 1970. Either one believes in First Amendment rights or don't.
