The National Lawyers Guild condemns yesterday's federal indictment of New York attorney Lynne Stewart and the impact on attorney-client privilege that it will have. The Sixth Amendment of the U.S Constitution protects attorney-client privilege, without which there can be no effective assistance of counsel. "Stewart is a veteran criminal defense attorney who often represents both controversial causes and unpopular clients. The government seems to be singling her out as poster child for its campaign to justify the unconstitutional monitoring of conversations between lawyers and inmates. This is clearly designed to have a chilling effect on lawyers zealously representing their clients," said Bruce Nestor, President of the National Lawyers Guild. For three years the New York FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has been investigating Stewart, an attorney for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who has been serving a life plus 65-year sentence. This fall the government announced a new rule that purports to allow the Bureau of Prisons to monitor conversations between lawyers and inmates deemed threats of committing future acts of violence or terrorism. In October the National Lawyers Guild submitted comments opposing the new rule although the Bureau of Prisons is enforcing the rule even prior to the usual "notice and comment" democratic input process. "In addition to undermining the principle of attorney-client privilege, John Ashcroft's recent actions, including yesterday's indictment, may have a chilling effect on lawyers who want to represent politically active clients but are afraid of being singled out by the government for surveillance," said Nestor. Stewart and three others were charged yesterday with providing material support to terrorists. Last December, Ashcroft said, "to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: your tactics only aid terrorists." Ashcroft appears to have expanded this now to include legal advocacy. The Guild is launching a campaign of legal organizations around the country to join in opposing this indictment and its attack upon attorney-client privilege. http://www.nlg.org/ The State will pay dearly for this.There wont be any 'truth and rec' commissions.