Ashcroft goes after Greenpeace.

• Author: Prugh, Tom
• Position: Environmental Intelligence

A routine protest, Greenpeace style, threatens to become an important test of free speech.

The case stems from a protest the organization staged in April 2002, when Greenpeace activists boarded the container ship APL Jade, owned by the Singapore-based American President Lines. Greenpeace argues that the ship was carrying illegally exported Amazon mahogany from Brazil, and the protestors aimed to unfurl a banner saying, "President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging." News and wire reports say they were arrested on misdemeanor charges and sentenced to time served.

Many previous Greenpeace protests have ended at that stage. But last July the U.S. Department of Justice charged the organization itself--not just its staffers--with illegally conspiring to board, and then boarding, APL Jade. According to a Greenpeace spokesperson, the charge was brought under...