Terrorist Registration?

A South Carolina law, now in effect, requires all persons who are members of subversive organizations to register with the State – just like you would do if, say, you wanted to get married or operate a corporation. You can read the text of the law here.

“Why require terrorists to register with the government?” you may be thinking, “It is ridiculous to think that they will comply…so isn’t this law just a waste of time and money?”

None of the news stories that I’ve read explain why such a nonsensical law has been passed, but I actually think that it is quite clever.

Its not that South Carolina expects terrorists to register with the state. They won’t do it. To the contrary, they are counting on the fact that they won’t register. Here’s why:

Often, a problem in busting criminals is that law enforcement can’t gather enough evidence to make out a case against them. In the case of planned terrorism, I would expect, its actually quite difficult to put together a case, even if you have strong suspicions about what they are up to. People don’t just leave paper trails detailing their plans lying around in places where the police can search, and its not like terrorists are James Bond villains, who give their plans away in detailed monologues. Stopping terrorist acts before they happen is tough.

Developing a case that someone is merely advocating (as opposed to planning) the overthrow of the American government would be much easier, but, of course, the First Amendment limits what kind of laws you can pass along those lines. You can’t just arrest someone for saying they think the US government is corrupt, and that it ought to be overthrown.

But…

What if subversive organizations (read: “terrorist cells”) were required to register with the state or the Feds? They won’t do it, of course. But, when they don’t, suddenly you have something that can be proven relatively easy. You don’t need to show bombs and detailed plans for blowing up a bridge. You don’t even need to show that they plan to do anything. You just have to show that they are subversive, and that they didn’t register. That is a much easier case.

Better yet, if law enforcement agencies suspect someone is operating a terrorist cell, they no longer have to have probable cause – reasonable evidence of bombs and plans – to get a subpoena and search the cell’s place of operation. Now, they merely have to show probable cause that the organization advocates the overthrow of the government, and that it is unregistered. That is also much easier.

And, once they have a legal right to search the suspect and the suspect’s premises, who knows what they might find? Maybe the evidence they need to build a case for a more serious crime.

So there you have it. The idea behind the South Carolina law is that law enforcement will have more power to investigate and prosecute suspected terrorists under the guise of enforcing a “registration” act. Of course, its also more power to harass perfectly legitimate groups, so, while I do admire the person who thought up this legislation, I’m not so sure it is a good idea.