The landmark legal case against Tampa, Fla., university professor Sami al-Arian will provide the first showcase for the unprecedented powers Congress granted the FBI and the Justice Department after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Al-Arian and seven others are charged with conspiracy to commit murder via suicide attacks in Israel and the Palestinian areas, racketeering and money laundering - charges they strongly deny. Al-Arian contends he was indicted because of his pro-Palestinian views.

What makes the al-Arian prosecution a test case is the collaboration between federal agents gathering foreign intelligence and prosecutors bringing domestic criminal charges. Before the passage of the Patriot Act, that wasn't permitted under Justice Department guidelines.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 created the secret court that reviews FBI requests to investigate suspected "agents of a foreign power" operating in the United States who are believed to be spying or fostering international terrorist activities.

The law was influenced by past abuses when intelligence gathering powers were used to spy on political enemies. For more than two decades, Justice Department officials erected a wall that kept the intelligence gathering side of the FBI separate from the criminal investigative side.

Weeks after Sept. 11, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which dismantled the wall, removing many of the barriers that limited the amount of classified national security information that could be used in a criminal case.