PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Don Carcieri yesterday withdrew a homeland-security plan criticized by scholars and civil-libertarians as a threat to freedom of speech and assembly.
The bill introduced last week would have included acts of terrorism under existing law that makes it illegal to “speak, utter, or print” statements in support of anarchy or government overthrow. It also would have included terrorism under current law that makes it unlawful for any person “to teach or advocate” a government overthrow, or display “any flag or emblem other than the flag of the United States” as preferable to the U.S. government.
“What Governor Carcieri proposes is to take the state of Rhode Island back 200 years,” Paul McMasters, a nationally recognized expert at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., told The Providence Journal.
Carcieri said the negative reaction, which included criticism from the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, was overblown.
“State government has a responsibility to ensure the public’s safety by assessing and responding to new and evolving threats,” Carcieri said. He sought to amend existing laws to define terrorism and include penalties for such acts.
But by reviving rarely used laws first enacted in 1919 that criminalize the advocacy of anarchy, his intentions became lost in a public debate over civil liberties, which he said he has no desire to limit.
The bill, which never had a public hearing, also would have created new exemptions to open-records laws, including fire-safety records.
Carcieri said he’s “not interested in trying to keep things secret. The idea is to not provide information a terrorist may use to his advantage.”
“It’s clear we need to step back and take a look at all of this,” Carcieri said, including possibly repealing any outdated laws.
Carcieri acknowledges he did not read the entire bill before it was introduced and said he’ll seek input from civil liberties groups and others before introducing a new version.
ACLU state director Steve Brown said the bill attempted to broadly define and penalize acts of terrorism.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has held for decades that the First Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to advocate violence, as long as it is not directed to imminent unlawful action,” he said.
A similar effort to define terrorism was dropped from another bill last year.
Brown said he’ll accept Carcieri’s offer to consider repealing laws criminalizing advocacy of anarchy.
“I am very pleased the governor recognized ... the dangers contained in his bill,” Brown said.