U.S. Supreme Court upholds law against encouraging illegal immigration

FILE PHOTO: The United States Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, U.S., June 20, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

(Reuters) -A federal law that makes it a crime for a person to encourage illegal immigration does not violate constitutional free speech protections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday in upholding the decades-old measure defended by President Joe Biden's administration.

The 7-2 ruling, authored by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, overturned a lower court's decision to strike down the provision, part of a larger immigration statute, in a case involving a California man named Helaman Hansen who deceived immigrants through a phony "adult adoption" program. The lower court had found the law overly broad because it may criminalize speech protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.