April 24, 1996

Early in 1995, U.S. President William J. Clinton sent the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995 to Congress, where it failed in committee. After the April 25, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and in response to growing concerns about terrorism inspired in part by the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the U.S. government passes the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The law seeks to “deter terrorism, provide justice for victims, [and] provide for an effective death penalty.” It amends United States Code to significantly restrict the ability of defendants in criminal cases to challenge their convictions using habeas corpus and prohibit providing “material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations.”