Opinion ID: 2650623
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The LTTE

Text: Sri Lanka became an independent state in 1948, following the end of British colonial rule. The Sinhalese Buddhist majority took control, and in the years since the Sri Lankan government has purportedly engaged in systematic oppression of the Tamils, a minority group residing primarily in the north and east parts of the country. Formed in 1976, the LTTE is a militant separatist group in northern Sri Lanka that sought to establish an independent Tamil state. It opposed the Sri Lankan government's alleged persecution of the Tamils. The LTTE engaged in civil war with the Sri Lankan government, employing a significant military operation, including an army of some 10,000 soldiers as well as air and naval forces. The LTTE perpetrated acts of violence in Sri Lanka and India, including -3- suicide bombings and assassinations. A military offensive by the Sri Lankan government in 2009 effectively eradicated the LTTE's presence in Sri Lanka. As the district court found, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government thus were engaged in an ongoing civil war, with apparent serious human rights violations on both sides of the conflict. In 1997, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1189, the State Department designated the LTTE a foreign terrorist organization, after finding that the LTTE was (1) a foreign organization, (2) engaged in terrorist activity, which (3) threatens the security of United States nationals or the national security of the United States. 8 U.S.C. § 1189(a)(1); see also Foreign Terrorist Organizations, U.S. Dep't of State, www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm (last visited Jan. 23, 2014) (listing LTTE since 1997). The LTTE filed a petition to review this designation. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the petition. See People's Mojahedin Org. of Iran v. U.S. Dep't of State, 182 F.3d 17 (D.C. Cir. 1999). 1 1 The D.C. Circuit limited its review to determining whether the materials furnished by the State Department provided substantial support for the State Department's findings that the LTTE was (1) a foreign organization that (2) engaged in terrorist activity. See 182 F.3d at 24-25. As to the third factor of § 1189, the D.C. Circuit deferred to the State Department’s determination that the LTTE posed a threat to U.S. national security, holding that this was a nonjusticiable foreign policy decision of the Executive Branch. Id. at 23 (citing Chi. & S. Air Lines, Inc. v. Waterman Steamship Corp., 333 U.S. 103, 111 (1948)). -4-