In 1997, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright designated the LTTE as a "foreign terrorist organization" under the terms of the AEDPA, which, according to "TamilNet", "criminalizes the provision of material support or resources to the lawful and non-violent activities of any foreign organization designated as 'terrorist' by the Secretary of State." In 1998, FeTNA and seven other organizations joined the Center for Constitutional Rights in challenging the constitutionality of the AEDPA, which would make illegal FeTNA's attempts to do service around Tamil language, arts, and cultural institutions in the LTTE-occupied "Tamil Eelam" region of Sri Lanka. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against the plaintiffs.