United States of America 2006

 

The number of antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2006 fell by 12 percent from the previous year. However, a murder and a high number of antisemitic acts on college campuses and at middle and high schools were reported. Many hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan were successful in exploiting growing anti-immigration sentiment in the United States. The Internet continued to serve as a vehicle for anti-Jewish hostility, since both domestic and international extremists as well as terrorist groups utilize US-based servers.

 

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The Jewish community in the United States - the largest concentration of Jews in the world outside Israel - numbers 5.2 million, or 2.2 percent of the total population of 282.1 million. The bulk of American Jewry live in major metropolitan areas and their environs, including New York (1.45 million), Los Angeles (519,000), Southeast Florida (498,000), Chicago (261,000), Boston (227,000), San Francisco Bay (210,000), Philadelphia (206,000) and Cleveland (82,000). The intermarriage rate is high, accounting for more than 50 percent of all unions involving a Jewish partner.

Leading national Jewish organizations include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Anti-Defamation League (ADL), B'nai Brith, Hadassah, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Jewish War Veterans (JWV) and many other religious, fraternal and Zionist groups. The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations acts as the domestic and foreign policy umbrella group for 52 member organizations. A merger between the Council of Jewish Federations, United Israel Appeal and United Jewish Appeal in 1998 created the United Jewish Communities (UJC), which represents Jewish community federations and independent Jewish communities throughout North America.

There is an active Jewish press and almost every community with a large Jewish population supports its own English-language weekly.

 

Racist ORGANIZATIONS AND GROUPS

Racist organizations in the US underwent a number of important developments in 2006. Many, including the Ku Klux Klan, experienced a resurgence in activity as a result of its exploitation of anti-immigration sentiment. Some skinhead groups and prison gangs became more violent. In contrast, due to organizational splits and factional infighting, neo-Nazi organizations were less effective in 2006 than in previous years.

 

Neo-Nazi Groups

The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is a Minneapolis-based organization descended from the 1960s-era American Nazi Party. Its members wear Nazi uniforms and regalia openly at the group's rallies and call for a 'Greater America' that would deny citizenship to Jews, nonwhites and homosexuals. In 2006, the NSM became the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States, largely due to the demise of the National Alliance and Aryan Nations (see below). However, by the summer of 2006, the leadership structure of the NSM had begun to unravel, resulting in the ouster or resignation of several high-profile members, including the group's media liaison Bill White and its chairman Cliff Herrington. White's removal came as the result of hostility he created between the NSM and other white supremacist groups, using his own website as a platform. When NSM leaders took disciplinary action against White, he split from the group and established his own organization, the American National Socialist Workers Party (ANSWP). Herrington left after reports circulated about his wife's alleged membership in a Satanic cult. He formed the National Socialist Freedom Movement, which exists primarily on the Internet.

The National Alliance (NA) now has a small, largely inactive membership. In June 2006, federal authorities arrested Shaun Walker, who at the time was eader of the NA, in his West Virginia compound after a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City indicted him on conspiracy to interfere with civil rights and interference with a federally protected activity. Two other National Alliance members, Travis Massey and Eric Egbert, were arrested in Utah on the same charges. According to the indictment, between December 2002 and March 2003, Walker, Massey, and Egbert conspired to threaten, provoke and fight with minorities in order to deter them from living in and around Salt Lake City.

The National Vanguard, led by former NA activist Kevin Strom, was created following an organizational split from the NA in April 2005. By March 2006, however, the Tampa and Denver units, two of its largest and most active chapters, left to form their own organization, the Nationalist Coalition.

 

White Supremacist Groups

By 2006, Volksfront, based in Portland, Oregon, had become one of the most active white supremacist groups on the West Coast. One of its primary goals is to establish an autonomous whites-only living space in the Pacific Northwest, and to this end the group claims to have purchased several acres of property in Oregon. Many members of Volksfront have been convicted of violent hate crimes. For example, two brothers Jacob and Gabriel Laskey, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Portland, Oregon, in August 2006, to throwing swastika-etched rocks at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene during a religious service in 2002. Both face extended prison sentences.

With over 40 active groups, most with multiple chapters or 'klaverns', Ku Klux Klan groups remain the most common type of hate group in the United States. Klan groups increased their activities in the United States in 2006, in large part by exploiting anti-immigration sentiment, a mainstream issue that Klan leaders believe will help them bring their message to a larger audience. The Tennessee-based Brotherhood of Klans (BOK) organized a series of events in 2006, including 'unity' gatherings for white supremacists. The BOK also established new chapters in many parts of the country. Among newer Klan groups, the Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a Florida-based group formed in part by former members of the Southern White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, expanded to 18 states. In the Midwest, the Michigan-based United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, created in 2005 as a splinter group from another Klan, expanded to nine states in 2006. New Klan groups even formed in areas where the Klan has been weak in recent years, such as Iowa, where Douglas Sadler established the Fraternal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and in the Mid-Atlantic States.

 

Christian Identity

The Christian Identity movement promotes its racist, antisemitic agenda by manipulating religious themes. It holds that people of white European ancestry are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, making them the 'chosen people' of the Bible. Identity groups in the US today include America's Promise Ministries of Sandpoint, Idaho; Dan Gayman's Schell City, Missouri, Church of Israel; Pete Peters' Laporte, Colorado-based Scriptures for America Worldwide; and Kingdom Identity Ministries in Harrison, Arkansas.

Aryan Nations, a paramilitary neo-Nazi group formed in the mid-1970s that subscribes to Identity ideology, continued to decline in 2006 since the death of its founder and leader Richard Butler in 2004. By 2006, Aryan Nations consisted of only two small factions.

In May 2006, Morris Lynn Gulett, a former high-ranking member of Aryan Nations, and leader of one of the group's factions, the Church of the Sons of Yahweh, and Charles Scott Thornton, of Piedmont, Alabama, were sentenced to 72 and 60 months in prison, respectively, following convictions on several charges, including conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery.

 

Skinheads

Since 2002, the racist skinhead movement in the United States has undergone a strong resurgence. Numbers of groups and unaffiliated/independent racist skinheads have increased, and the amount of associated criminal activity has risen correspondingly. Most of this activity − including several murders and attempted murders − is hate motivated, the most common targets being African-Americans, Hispanics, multi-racial couples or families, Asians, gays and lesbians, homeless people and Jews.

One of the most active skinhead groups to emerge in 2006 was the Vinlanders Social Club of hard-core racists, many of whom have criminal records. Originating in Knightstown, Indiana, the Vinlanders began as a loose association of members of skinhead groups from Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. Within a short period of time, the Vinlanders grew to over a hundred members and close associates, and also developed rivalries with other white supremacist groups, notably the National Socialist Movement and the Hammerskins.

Racist skinheads committed a number of violent crimes in 2006, including several murders. A particularly brutal attack occurred in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, where two skinheads slashed a Hispanic teenager with a knife, sodomized him with the plastic pipe from a backyard umbrella, and poured bleach on him in a five-hour-long assault that left the teen with massive internal injuries. However, he survived. In November, one of the attackers, David Henry Tuck, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison. The other attacker, Keith Turner, was convicted of the same crime in December and sentenced to 90 years in prison.

A Pasco County, Florida, grand jury indicted John Ditullio, 20, a member of a Florida racist skinhead group called the American Nazis, on charges of first degree murder and attempted first degree murder for an alleged knife attack on neighbors in New Port Richey in March 2006. Members of the group lived next door to the woman and her friend in a mobile home covered with swastika and Nazi flags. Ditullio allegedly told law enforcement that he was a 'recruit' in the American Nazis at the time of the incident.

 

Criminal Activities of Racist Groups

In 2006, prison officials and police on the streets alike struggled to rein in the criminal activities of members of racist gangs both in and outside prisons across the United States. Members of such groups committed murders, kidnappings and assaults, and engaged in illegal drug trading, identity theft, counterfeiting and more.

Many criminal activities and trials involved the Aryan Brotherhood. Taking center stage were the high-profile federal trials of Aryan Brotherhood leaders in California on racketeering charges for a variety of murder, attempted murders, and other crimes. One trial, in Santa Ana, resulted in convictions of four Aryan Brotherhood leaders: Barry "The Baron" Mills, Tyler "The Hulk" Bingham, Edgar "The Snail" Hevle, and Christopher Gibson. A second trial went to court in Los Angeles in December 2006.

The California trials involved criminal acts dating back decades, but Aryan Brotherhood members and associates were active in committing more recent crimes in other parts of the country, for example, in Texas and in Oklahoma, where Aryan Brotherhood members Brandon James Horne and Michael Sean Rose were charged with first degree murder in October 2006 for the alleged killing of an inmate who was a sex offender.

Many regional racist gangs also caused problems in 2006. Members of the Nazi Low Riders (NLR) are closely linked to criminal activity ranging from hate crimes to the illegal drug trade. In 2006, one member, Michael David Cottler, was arrested in August for allegedly conspiring with another man in prison to murder a California Highway Patrol officer who was going to testify against one of them in court.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, federal and local authorities arrested 42 members of a racist skinhead gang known as the AZ 88 Boot Boys ("88" is neo-Nazi code for "Heil Hitler"), including alleged leader Todd Streich, on weapons, gang and drug charges. The May 2006 arrests were the culmination of a 14-month, multi-agency investigation. Most of the alleged members were from Phoenix and Glendale.

 

Militia Movement

In 2006, anti-government militia groups continued to conduct paramilitary training in relative secrecy. The revived Internet militia discussion board, "A Well Regulated Militia," as well as individual militia websites and lists, have been attempting to stimulate interest in recruitment. War veterans remain highly prized assets for their training, and leadership potential. Continuing immigration issues, skepticism about the War on Terrorism and rumors concerning a future North American Union (comprising the US, Canada and Mexico) were topics occupying the movement in 2006. In November 2006, Lt. Commander Hollis Wayne Fincher of the Washington County Arkansas Militia was arrested and charged with possession of illegal firearms. Antisemitic, racist elements remain an influence in an undetermined number of militia groups throughout the country.

 

Antisemitic Figures

Following his release from prison in May 2004 (see ASW 2004), former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke continued promoting his antisemitic theories both in the US and abroad. In March, Duke praised a controversial paper written by two academics, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, entitled "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" (London Review of Books, March), which claimed that an "Israel lobby" controls American foreign policy and engineered the country's military overthrow of Saddam Husayn. Duke claimed that the paper reflected many of the assertions he had made over the years, and that he been 'validated'. Duke's plaudits for the paper were reported in the media, and Duke himself made a rare appearance on mainstream television when he was interviewed on 21 March 2006, by Joe Scarborough on the MSNBC program "Scarborough Country."

Duke addressed an audience at the MAUP − the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (see Ukraine) − in October, on "Zionist influence in the United States." In September 2005 MAUP awarded Duke a doctorate in history. Duke also addressed the "Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision" conference hosted by Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran in December 2006. In his remarks, listed on the events program as "A Holocaust Enquiry," Duke reiterated his view that Zionists control and manipulate governments, politics and media in the Western world. In the course of his comments, Duke covered a wide range of topics, including the war in Iraq "being fought on behalf of Israel" and the imprisonment in Europe of Holocaust deniers, whom he referred to as "scholars and researchers."

Hal Turner, a New Jersey-based white supremacist Internet radio show host, is a hardcore antisemite and former member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance. Although Turner claims no formal affiliation with any white supremacist group, his Hal Turner Radio Network provides air time to other white supremacists. Turner himself repeatedly made statements on his radio show and website that encouraged listeners to attack and to kill Jews, Hispanics, and federal officials.

 

Black Racist Groups

Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam (NOI) leader who has long expressed antisemitic and racist rhetoric, began 2006 by blaming Jews and Israel for the war in Iraq, for controlling Hollywood and for promoting what he considers immorality, during his February Saviours' Day address in Chicago. By September, however, Farrakhan had relinquished his leadership role with the group after nearly 30 years, due to illness. While some observers suggest that the NOI might fold if Farrakhan dies, it seems more likely that there will be a battle for succession among top ranking NOI officials. Ishmael Muhammad, Farrakhan's assistant minister at Mosque Maryam in Chicago (and son of former NOI leader Elijah Muhammad), is a leading contender for NOI leadership.

In 2006, the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), the largest antisemitic and racist black militant group in the United States, continued to capitalize on media attention surrounding racially charged issues by organizing protests - often threatening violence - under the guise of championing the causes of black empowerment and civil rights. By cloaking their conspiracy-oriented worldview in religious and civil rights principles, the NBPP has achieved some success infiltrating mainstream media, with its leaders frequently appearing on national television in 2006. In an interview on "The O'Reilly Factor," for example, NBPP leader Malik Zulu Shabazz blamed Jews for creating negative images of blacks, and Zionists for terrorist attacks against them.

Shabazz has sought to expand the organization and its influence in the African-American community by solidifying relationships with street gangs, and developing close relations with the NOI. Shabazz, who frequently speaks at NOI events (he joined Farrakhan during NOI's annual Saviours' Day convention in February 2006), could benefit from this reconciliation. Should Farrakhan continue to cede his powers, some NOI members may look to Shabazz and the New Black Panther Party for leadership.

 

ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITIES

While most antisemitic activity in the US has been limited to hate propaganda, members of extremist organizations and their associates − as well as private individuals − sometimes engage in threats, violence and vandalism. Antisemitic incidents in the United States declined for the second consecutive year in 2006. The overall total of 1,554 antisemitic incidents in 2006 was down 12 percent from 2005 (1,757). The average annual figure during the ten-year period 1996−2005 was 1,618, as reported by the ADL. According to FBI statistics, antisemitic incidents constituted approximately 11 percent of the total number of hate crimes reported in 2005.

The decline came in a year marked by several violent attacks, including the shooting at the Greater Seattle Jewish Federation, on 28 July, by Naveed Afzal Haq, a 30-year-old US citizen of Pakistani descent, in which staffer Pamela Waechter was killed and five others were seriously wounded. Haq, who allegedly forced his way through a security door by holding a gun to a 13-year-old girl's head, began shooting after telling Federation staff members that he was "a Muslim-American" who was "angry at Israel." He surrendered shortly after the event. That attack and others underscored the continuing threat to Jewish community institutions, particularly at a time of heightened conflict in the Middle East. Tensions from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Second Lebanon War spilled over onto US college campuses and into anti-war protests.

In 2006, vandalism accounted for 43 percent of the total, versus 35 percent in 2005, while harassment of individuals - though less violent but more direct and personal - constituted 57 percent, compared to 65 percent in 2005. (Incidents of harassment have predominated annually since 1991; during the 1980s more vandalism incidents were reported.) Cases of harassment decreased by 22 percent in 2006, with 885 incidents reported, compared to 1,140 in 2005. Acts of vandalism increased by 8 per cent to 669, compared to 617 incidents reported in 2005, and 644 in 2004. Examples ranged from synagogue vandalism to swastikas and other anti-Jewish graffiti painted on schools, private homes and public buildings.

As in previous years, states with the highest number of incidents were New York (284, down from 381 in 2005); New Jersey (244, down from 266); California (204, down from 247); Florida (179, down from 199); Massachusetts (96, up from 93 in 2005) Pennsylvania (94, down from 95 in 2005) and Connecticut (77, up from 57).

In 2006, a total of 77 incidents related to racist/ultra-right-wing activity were recorded, compared to 112 in 2005 - a significant decline, possibly related to the factional in-fighting noted above. The national discussion over illegal immigration caused some Klan and neo-Nazi groups to refocus much of their energies on targeting Hispanics at immigration rallies and protests across the country. Leafleting and distribution of hate propaganda around neighborhoods and in public areas, as well as at rallies and via the Internet (including the posting of videos and other materials), made up the bulk of incidents carried out by organized antisemitic groups.

The Internet continued to play a substantial role in the dissemination of antisemitism, with hate literature being transmitted through hundreds of sites on the web and through bulletin boards, chat rooms and e-mail messages. While innumerable Internet messages are not generally counted as incidents of hate in the ADL Audit, specific threats aimed at Jewish synagogues and institutions via e-mail are.

Hate groups actively contributed to the continued Internet circulation of anti-Jewish conspiracy charges related to 9/11, while maintaining their efforts to promote theories of Jewish control of government, finance and the media. Among the groups that showed disturbing growth in 2006 - in addition to the KKK -- were the NSM and racist skinheads.

 

Educational Institutions

Another factor that again played a role in both harassment and vandalism incidents was the high number of antisemitic acts reported at middle and high schools − 193 nationwide. In the eight states with the highest overall totals of antisemitic acts in 2006, 15 percent of all incidents were school based - compared to 13 percent in 2005. These included swastikas painted or scratched on desks, walls and other school property, and antisemitic name-calling, slurs, mockery and bullying.

Eighty-eight antisemitic incidents were reported in 2006 on campuses across the country, a decrease of 10 percent from the 98 reported in 2005, but more than the 2004 total of 74. Besides vandalism of Jewish student organizational property, they included some activities that crossed the line from anti-war and anti-Israel rallies and demonstrations to harassment of Jewish students and other antisemitic phenomena, which place them beyond the pale of mere political expression.

 

Demonstrations (See General Analysis for expanded version of this section)

Anti-war rallies organized throughout the country during summer 2006 in response to the war in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip were marked by support for terrorist groups, calls for the destruction of Israel, messages equating Zionism with Nazism and a proliferation of antisemitism.

The war between Israel and the Hizballah in Lebanon validated in the eyes of more radical elements within the far left the notion that the fundamentalist Shi`i movement, as well as insurgents in Iraq and Palestinian terror organizations, including extremist Islamist organizations, was an important ideological partner of progressive movements in the West. This was expressed in a sense of growing radicalism reflected in the speeches and the mood of the crowds present at the summer events.

Various signs at the rallies equated Zionism and Israel with Nazi Germany. One typical sign (from the largest rally in DC) featured a Star of David with the caption: "The Nazis are back." One protester at a rally in San Francisco (August 12) held a sign that proclaimed: "Nazi kikes out of Lebanon."

In several of the rallies the crowds called on Hizballah to bomb Israeli cities. A common chant in Arabic, with variations, was: "Nasrallah, dear: bomb Tel Aviv. bomb Kiryat Shmona." (At the time of the rally, Hizballah was bombing northern Israel and threatening to bomb Tel Aviv).

Speakers at the rallies also criticized US support for Israel, which many of them blamed on Israel's stranglehold on American policy. At a demonstration in Dearborn, Michigan (18 July), one speaker said: "We know that the president is being bought by the Zionist lobby. We know that the [US] Congress is being bought by the Zionist lobby." At a rally in front of the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco (11 Aug.), which was preceded by a service at a mosque led by Imam Abdul Aleem Musa, a radical antisemitic cleric from DC, protesters said: "Do not listen to the news, it is controlled by the Jews" and "All we have to lose is control by the Jews."

 

Internet

Extremists and terrorists expanded their Internet presence throughout 2006, and were becoming more technologically adept. Thousands of websites continually spread racism, as well as antisemitic, and anti-Israel views and Holocaust denial. Numerous antisemitic sites incorporate technology such as streaming audio, video and ecommerce sections, as well as sophisticated flash videos and background music, along with original artwork and cartoons. Many extremist groups based overseas utilize servers located within the United States to circumvent laws in their home countries prohibiting racist, extremist, bigoted and antisemitic content.

Virtually every major extremist group based in the US has some form of Internet presence, and many individuals with extremist ideologies have created their own sites and/or pages or blogs. Some conspiracy theorists with antisemitic beliefs also have a strong presence online, with active websites and e-mail lists linking current world events to Jews and Israel. The sites of antisemites, such as Holocaust deniers, promote not only their own theories but merchandise and magazines, too. Information on Iran's Holocaust-denying cartoon contest and its Holocaust denial conference (December) was posted online by US-based sites, such as Stormfront, David Duke, IHR and Vanguard News Network.

Increasingly, international terrorist groups with an antisemitic agenda - including Hamas, Hizballah, and al-Qa`ida-affiliated groups - which target the United States generally, and Jews specifically, have found Internet providers in the United States less willing to host their antisemitic and violence-promoting materials. Nevertheless, terrorist groups continued to find the Internet a valuable resource for posting and distributing anti-US and antisemitic propaganda, and for urging the targeting of Jews in the US and around the world. Some international antisemitic terrorist groups have stated that participation in the 'Internet jihad' is essential. Pronouncements by al-Qa`ida leaders, including Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, often include accusations against 'the 'Crusaders' and 'the Jews'. In videos posted online using file-sharing services in countries around the world, and widely discussed and disseminated through sites on US servers, al-Zawahiri often begins his statements with the words: "O mujahideen brothers who are defending the lands of Islam against the Zionist-Crusader attack in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya..." In Iraq, confirmation of Abu Musad al Zarqawi's death and statements by terrorist groups across the world often referenced "Crusaders and Zionists," and the Jihad Factions in Iraq specifically stated, "We advise the occupiers, the descendants of apes and pigs, to behold the Islamic nation that has brought forward the commanders who have changed the course of history with their jihad and by carrying forth the banner of Islam." In April 2006, an unverified communiqué by "Al Qaeda's committee in Palestine" appeared specifically claiming responsibility for a missile attack against Israel in the name of Usama bin Laden and pledging "victory against the occupying enemies of Allah - the Crusaders and Zionists."

It is now illegal in the United States to have business dealings with Hizballah websites such as al-Manar or al-Nour radio; in 2006 the government filed a case against a person in New York for re-broadcasting al-Manar programs over cable systems and the Internet.

 

responses to racism and antisemitism

Legislation/Law Enforcement          

As of December 2006, forty-five states and the District of Columbia had penalty-enhanced hate crime laws. The Federal Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) continues to require the Justice Department to gather data on crimes which manifest prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or ethnicity from law enforcement agencies across the country, and to publish an annual summary of its findings.

According to FBI statistics for 2005 (the most recent report issued), 7,163 criminal incidents involving 8,380 offenses were reported in 2005 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability. Of these, 17.1 percent (1,314) were motivated by religious bias: 68.5 percent were anti-Jewish and 11.1 percent anti-Islamic. According to the ADL, two of the largest cities in America - Phoenix and New York - did not submit hate crime data in time to be included in the report, and thousands of other smaller police agencies did not participate in the FBI data collection effort.

There were important developments in terrorism and hate crimes law in the United States. Key provisions of the US PATRIOT Act were renewed by the United States Congress in early March and signed into law by the president. The new version slightly modified the original act, including granting access to court for people who receive subpoenas under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act so that they can challenge 'gag orders' relating to the summons.

The United States Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 126 S.Ct. 2749 (11 June 2006), that the military commissions established by the US president to try terror suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, lack "power to proceed because [their] structure and procedures violate" both the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the Geneva Conventions, the international agreements covering treatment of prisoners of war. As a result, the president was required to ask Congress for authority to proceed or try the detainees under the rules of traditional military courts-martial.

In response to Hamdan, the president asked for, and Congress passed, a new Military Commissions Act, which stripped detainees of their right to seek review of their detention in United States federal courts. As of 31 December 2006, Boumediene v. Bush, which asked whether federal courts have jurisdiction over the habeas petitions of aliens deemed enemy combatants and detained on Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, was still pending before the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

 

Legal Activity

A case with important implications for sentence-enhancing hate crime laws, Cunningham v. California, was argued before the United States Supreme Court in October 2006. At issue is the constitutionality of a California sentencing law that allows the judge to impose a heightened sentence based on facts found by the judge rather than the jury. In a previous case, Apprendi v. New Jersey, the court ruled that facts pertaining to hate crime sentence enhancement must be found by juries, not judges. As of 31 December, the court had yet to issue its opinion in Cunningham.

On 17 April, a federal judge approved an agreement with prosecutors for Al-Arian, a Palestinian born in Kuwait, to plead guilty to a charge of conspiring to "make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of" a terrorist organization and be deported from the United States, according to an attorney involved in the negotiations. Al-Arian and three co-defendants were arrested in 2003 and charged with providing money and support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

On 21 July, a federal District Court in Manhattan sentenced Uzair Paracha to 30 years in prison for attempting to help Majid Khan, a Pakistani member of al-Qa`ida, obtain documents to travel to the United States from Pakistan in 2003. Paracha was convicted on all charges of a five-count federal indictment, which included conspiracy to provide and supplying material support to al-Qa`ida, conspiracy to provide and supplying funds, goods or services to that organization, and identification document fraud committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism.

            On 23 June, seven men were arrested for allegedly plotting to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago, the FBI headquarters in Miami and other US buildings. The suspects, described as "homegrown terrorists" by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, allegedly sought to obtain funding and support for the plot from a government informant posing as a member of al-Qa`ida. Five of the arrested men are US citizens, one is a legal permanent resident and one is an illegal Haitian national.           

On 28 November, a federal court in Jackson, Tennessee, sentenced white supremacist Demetrius "Van" Crocker, 41, to 30 years in prison, plus lifetime supervised release, for trying to obtain ingredients for Sarin nerve gas and C-4 explosives from an undercover agent. During his trial, a jury heard hours of taped conversations between Crocker and an undercover agent, during which Crocker talked about exploding a bomb and releasing Sarin gas outside of a courthouse, making batches of poisoned marijuana to kill black residents of Jackson, and spraying African-American neighborhoods with mustard gas from a helicopter. Crocker also told the undercover agent that he hates Jews and admires Adolf Hitler.