To the editor:

Got rights?

U.S.A. vs. Buddenberg is a federal prosecution of four animal-rights activists in California — being referred to as the AETA 4 — for conspiracy “to commit animal enterprise terrorism.” They are charged with conduct that includes First Amendment-protected activities such as protesting, chalking the sidewalk, chanting and leafleting.

The indictment was made possible because of a little-known law called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), aimed at suppressing speech and advocacy by criminalizing First Amendment-protected activities such as protests, boycotts, picketing and whistle-blowing.

It includes language so broad and vague it could be used to prosecute labor activists who organize a successful boycott of Walmart, or union folks who picket a university cafeteria.

Pushed through Congress by a powerful lobby of corporations and research institutions, the AETA is an unconstitutional law, because it criminalizes a broad swath of protected First Amendment activities.

AETA is being used for the first time since its passage by Congress in 2006 to do exactly what civil-rights advocates feared it would do — criminalize activities protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Please visit www.ccrjustice.org and search AETA for more information.

John Hurd

Clinton