In April 2002, off the Florida coast, two Greenpeace activists boarded an American cargo ship carrying contraband mahogany from the Brazilian Amazon to bring attention to illegal logging. The Coast Guard detained them for a weekend. The Brazilian government praised them. A year-and-a-half later, along comes John Ashcroft with the U.S.'s first attempt ever to prosecute an entire organization for protest activities. And he'd like to do it without a jury.

Feds have indicted Greenpeace under an obscure 1872 law against boarding unmoored ships. In addition to large fines for each charge, Greenpeace faces five years of probation, which would leave them under close surveillance, thus greatly undermining their work-which may be the point. One U.S. law professor told the New York Times that the prosecution's intent "is to inhibit First Amendment activities."

Prosecutors offered no comment, but their plaint reveals their views: "The heart of Greenpeace's mission," it claims, "is the violation of the law." The trial is scheduled for December.

» Scott Saxon