SENATE OKS TOUGH COUNTERTERRORISM BILL.

Byline: Stephen Labaton The New York Times

The Senate overwhelmingly approved counterterrorism legislation Wednesday night that would significantly accelerate executions of Death Row inmates around the country and make it more difficult for all federal and state prisoners to appeal their convictions.

By a vote of 91-8, the Senate moved the legislation to the House, where it also enjoys widespread support. Republican leaders have vowed to complete work on the measure by Friday, the first anniversary of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Senior aides to President Clinton have said they expected him to sign the measure, even though it lacked several provisions he had sought and had been called only half a counterterrorism bill by his supporters.

Clinton had proposed legislation that included provisions enlarging the authority of federal agents to wiretap suspects and permitting law-enforcement officials to consult with the military in certain cases. Those measures were dropped by Congress after the National Rifle Association lobbied heavily against them, arguing they were too intrusive.

The legislation adopted Wednesday would fulfill a drive by conservatives that began under President Reagan to rewrite the rules governing habeas corpus, the only legal avenue for state inmates to obtain a federal review of their cases.

It would impose tough new standards for habeas corpus petitions, and set new and stringent deadlines on when such petitions could be filed. It would also make it impossible for most prisoners - both on and off Death Row - to file more than one habeas corpus appeal.

Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the majority leader and likely Republican candidate for president, said that the legislation was the ``toughest anti-terrorism measure ever to become law,'' and that its ``heart and soul,'' the changes in habeas corpus appeals, would ``curb the endless frivolous appeals'' by Death Row inmates.

But many civil liberties organizations and lawyers groups said the legislation would trample on the constitutional rights of convicts by closing the door for federal review of their cases and the groups said they plan to challenge the constitutionality of the new restrictions.

The groups also predicted that the measure would inevitably lead to the prolonged imprisonment of some innocent people and the execution of others.

``The legislation not only ignores the international trend away from capital punishment, but also violates the spirit of international norms by proposing to make executions more common and errors in capital cases more likely,'' said Holly Burkhalter, Washington director of Human Rights Watch.