December 8, 1993

December 8, 1993—The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in NOW v. Scheidler. The first of three Supreme Court hearings in the case, this hearing is to determine whether an economic motive must be present in order to apply the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to League Director Joe Scheidler and his co-defendants. Law professor G. Robert Blakey, who authored RICO, presents arguments for the defense. He specifically points out that when he drafted RICO in 1970, protests against the Vietnam War were in full swing and that, at the request of the ACLU, the bill was written to ensure it would not be applied to protest movements.