Mr. Roberts and other administration lawyers argued that the statute did not apply to the clinic protests.

Now she often brings her 3-year-old son to clinic protests.

The jury found that the anti-abortion groups had committed at least 21 violations of the Hobbs Act in their clinic protests.

As the sometimes-violent clinic protests continue around the country, the Administration's legal position has become a potential political liability for President Bush.

What is left of the group is a handful of new regional leaders, with headquarters in Dallas, who have recently been able to muster only a few dozen people for clinic protests.

And they spent time in the same jail in Atlanta in 1988 after a clinic protest.

They had cited cases in recent years in which anti-abortion advocates had filed for bankruptcy to avoid paying court fines and judgments owed as a result of illegal clinic protests.

In this case, two lower federal courts had found that the clinic protests met that test because they were a form of discrimination against women.

However, in 1995, when John Salvi attacked two Boston abortion clinics, he urged a moratorium on clinic protests.

He also said the Hobbs Act, the Federal extortion law cited by the appeals court, did not cover the clinic protests.