In a case that pits free speech against privacy rights, a U.S. appeals court likely will overturn a ruling against a group of anti-abortion activists that posted the notorious "Nuremberg Files" Web site, which identified doctors and other abortion clinic workers -- and demanded they be "brought to justice."

In February 1999, Planned Parenthood and the various clinics and individuals won a $107 million judgment against the American Coalition of Life Activists and Advocates for Life Ministries for posting contact information on more than 200 people around the nation who worked in abortion clinics. A U.S. District Court jury in Oregon found the posted information represented a threat to the lives of the people identified -- partially based on the fact the lists sometimes included the names of spouses and children, and doctors murdered by anti-abortion activists had their names crossed out, according to news reports at the time.

The defendants appealed the verdict, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing the appeal. During questioning this week, the justices indicated that the the site likely didn't offer enough of a "direct threat" to the people named to overcome basic First Amendment protections, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

The justices also focused on instructions issued by the original trial judge, who didn't require jurors to determine that the anti-abortion groups actually intended to harm the people identified, the newspaper reports.

"This is speech in a public forum directed to the public. True, some of them might be kooks, violently inclined...and perhaps criminal. But that's what the First Amendment is about," Judges Alex Kozinski said during the proceeding.

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined the defendants in appealing the verdict.

The company hosting the original "Nuremberg Files" site shut it down following the 1999 verdict, saying the site violated the firm's ban on inappropriate material. Many of the files can still be found on mirror sites throughout the Internet, however.

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