Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

“Terrorism
and Free Speech” (editorial, Feb. 23) argues strongly for free
speech rights for organizations. “There needs to be strong protection
for a core area of protected speech and advocacy,” it says. “Americans
should be able to make arguments to a court on the behalf of terrorist
groups.”

The Humanitarian Law Project, part of International Educational
Development, is a nonprofit corporation. It is suing the government for
preventing it and others from providing advice and services to groups
deemed terrorist organizations by the United States government, and the
Supreme Court recently heard the case.

This hardly seems consistent with “The Court’s
Blow to Democracy,” your Jan. 22 editorial about Citizens United v.
Federal Election Commission. Then, you called the notion of First
Amendment rights for incorporated entities “wrongheaded.”

If The Times supports the right of American citizens organized as a
corporation to exercise their First Amendment rights on behalf of
terrorist organizations, why doesn’t it support the right of citizens
organized as business corporations, advocacy groups and unions to
support or oppose candidates?

Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
Alexandria, Va., Feb.
23, 2010

Note from KBJ: The letter writer assumes, falsely, that the editorial board of the New York Times cares about consistency. The board cares about one thing: advancing the progressive agenda.