Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2006)

NOW v. Scheidler, 547 U.S. ___ (2006), was a civil class-action lawsuit filed in the federal courts of the United States in 1986 by the National Organization for Women (NOW), representing the "class" of women seeking abortions, and various abortion clinics, representing the class of abortion providers. The suit was filed against Joseph Scheidler and other anti-abortion protestors and organizations which were members of the Pro-Life Action Network (PLAN), and was eventually consolidated with ''National Organization for Women et. al v. Operation Rescue''. The case was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on three separate occasions. In 2006 the Court issued a unanimous decision in favor of Scheidler and PLAN (see below).

NOW and the other plaintiffs had sought monetary damages and injunctions under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Hobbs Act (18 USC §1951, an anti-extortion law prohibiting interference with commerce by violence or threat of violence), and the Travel Act (18 USC §1952, prohibiting interstate travel in support of racketeering). RICO was originally drafted to combat the mafia and organized crime. The plaintiffs alleged that PLAN and Operation Rescue are racketeering organizations.

The courts had ruled in a 2003 decision that non-economic violence does not violate the RICO Act, but other federal charges, including associated monetary damages and a national injunction against interference with abortion clinic operations, remained unsettled until the final decision in 2006.

History
The suit against Scheidler and PLAN members was filed by NOW and supporting clinics in 1986, under the Sherman Antitrust Act and violations of various state laws. In 1988, it was expanded to include Randall Terry and Operation Rescue. In 1989, RICO and extortion claims were added.

Round 1 of the litigation
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the antitrust claims on the grounds that the protest groups were not in economic competition with the abortion clinics, and dismissed the RICO claims on the grounds that no "economic motive" was alleged (see National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler, 765 F. Supp. 937 (N.D. Ill. 1991)). The dismissals were upheld by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (see National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler, 968 F.2d 612 (7th Cir. 1992)). This decision conflicted with other RICO cases from other circuits.

In 1994, the Supreme Court reversed the appeals court, asserting that no economic motive was necessary to violate the RICO laws (see National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler, 510 U.S. 249 (1994)).

The case was remanded back to the district court.

Round 2 of the litigation
At this point, the defendants included John Patrick Ryan, Randall Terry, Andrew Scholberg, Conrad Wojnar, Timothy Murphy, Monica Migliorino, VitalMed Laboratories, Inc., the Pro-Life Action League, Inc. (PLAL), the Pro-Life Direct Action League, Inc. (PDAL), Operation Rescue, and Project Life. The plaintiffs included NOW and two abortion clinics, the Delaware Women's Health Organization, Inc., and the Summit Women's Health Organization, Inc.

Meanwhile, in 1994, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) went into effect, prohibiting the use of force or intimidation to block access to reproductive health care facilities.

In 1997, class-action status was granted by the district court, certifying NOW as representing the class of all women seeking reproductive health care. In 1998, Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue who was facing over $100,000 in costs from other abortion clinic-related charges, settled the case against him, agreeing to a permanent personal injunction.

Also 1998, as the Supreme Court summarizes:


 * After a 7-week trial, a six-member jury concluded that petitioners violated the civil provisions of RICO. By answering a series of special interrogatory questions, the jury found, inter alia, that petitioners' alleged "pattern of racketeering activity" included 21 violations of the Hobbs Act, 18 U. S. C. §1951; 25 violations of state extortion law; 25 instances of attempting or conspiring to commit either federal or state extortion; 23 violations of the Travel Act, 18 U. S. C. §1952; and 23 instances of attempting to violate the Travel Act. The jury awarded $31,455.64 to respondent, the National Women's Health Organization of Delaware, Inc., and $54,471.28 to the National Women's Health Organization of Summit, Inc. These damages were trebled pursuant to §1964(c). Additionally, the District Court entered a permanent nationwide injunction prohibiting petitioners from obstructing access to the clinics, trespassing on clinic property, damaging clinic property, or using violence or threats of violence against the clinics, their employees, or their patients.

(The injunction was issued in 1999; "petitioners" refers to the original defendants, who were the parties making the appeal.) The case was appealed to the Seventh Circuit again, on several grounds, including the First Amendment right to free speech. The circuit court affirmed the lower court's decision (see National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler, 267 F.3d 687 (7th Cir. 2001)).

The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal, though refused to consider free speech issues. In its 2003 decision, the court ruled that while the actions under consideration in the appeal might have been coercive, they were not extortive because the defendants did not "'obtain' property" from their victims (see National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler, 537 U.S. 393 (2003)). (The defendants did, however, according to the Court, interfere with the victims' ability to exercise their property rights.) Coercion is a less serious crime than extortion, and is not covered by RICO. The injunction was thus not supported by the RICO charges. The decision left open the question of whether the law generally entitled private parties to injuctive relief (as opposed to after-the-fact monetary damages) in RICO cases.

Round 3 of the litigation
The case returned to the Seventh Circuit, where the plaintiffs argued that while 117 violations of the RICO Act were addressed by the second Supreme Court decision, 4 violations of the Hobbs Act remained, constituting violence but not extortion. They also claimed that the national injunction could be supported as remedy for these acts. The appeals court attempted to remand these issues to the district court, but the defendants appealed to the Supreme Court, on the grounds that the Seventh Circuit was ignoring the 2003 decision. The defendants also asked the court to decide whether the Hobbs Act prohibits non-extortive violence, and to decide the still-open question of whether the law generally entitled private parties to injuctive relief in RICO cases.

With the case styled as Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc., the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous (8-0) decision in favor of Scheidler and PLAN on February 28, 2006. (Because he was not yet on the Court when the arguments were presented, Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the decision.) The Court held that the Hobbs Act did not cover violence unrelated to robbery or extortion. The Court also noted that Congress' 1994 passage of FACE indicated that Congress did not view RICO as pertaining to this area.

2006 Supreme Court case

 * FindLaw docket page, including background documents
 * Latest updates on Operation Rescue v. NOW, et. al. in the Supreme Court docket
 * Latest updates on Scheidler, et. al. v. NOW et. al. in the Supreme Court docket
 * 2006 Supreme Court Decision