ABSTRACT
On November 2, 1992, the National Organization for Women (NOW) requested that the U.S. Supreme Court exercise its discretionary agenda-setting powers and review the lower court’s decision in NOW v. Scheidler (No. 92–780). NOW asked the Court to apply the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against a group of abortion protestors who allegedly combined to drive them out of business. The issue was important for a host of financial and symbolic reasons. Racketeering, generally, is a form of organized crime that extorts money from businesses through means of intimidation or physical violence. If the courts allowed abortion protestors to be prosecuted under RICO, the symbolic effect would be negative for the pro-life cause. Just as importantly, if RICO was applied to pro-life groups, those groups would have to dip further into their finances to defend themselves against additional causes of action. Simply put, determining whether to apply RICO to pro-life groups had significant policy implications, and the Court’s decision to hear the case would therefore have profound consequences.
