Charles Johnson has posted the amicus curiae brief filed by CAIR in the Holy Land Foundation trial. Submitted by Washington attorney William Moffitt, the 56-page brief supports CAIR’s motion to strike the government’s identification of CAIR and others as unindicted co-conspirators of the Holy Land Foundation. The brief is poorly written and poorly argued, though here I want to focus only on one theme of the brief that is of particular interest. Indeed, it is newsworthy. If the New York Times were as interested in the news as it is in serving as CAIR’s public relations arm, it might have found room for this aspect of the brief in Neil McFarquhar’s story on CAIR’s motion.
CAIR’s brief verges on hysteria in asserting that the government has harmed it by identifying it as an unindicted co-conspirator. It repeatedly asserts that the government’s identification of CAIR has reduced its membership and donations. CAIR states at page 10:
[T]he mere publication of CAIR being named as an unindicted co-conspirator impresses upon the
typical member of the American public that CAIR is involved in criminal activity. This is pure
guilt by association.
The] negative reaction by the American public can be seen in the decline of membership
rates and donations resulting from the government
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