In 2000, a committee comprising mainly the same U.S. Muslim groups endorsed Republican Bush over Democrat Al Gore, because Bush had indicated he would address their concerns about the use of secret evidence in deportation hearings. But the task force said in its statement Thursday that the Bush administration has "been insensitive to the civil liberties and human rights" of Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"American Muslims are being treated like second-class citizens," they said.

Yet, the group also expressed disappointment in Kerry, urging Muslims to vote for him only as a "protest vote." Kerry "has so far failed to explicitly affirm support for due process, equal justice and other constitutional norms," the task force said.

Muslim leaders want a rollback of several parts of the USA Patriot Act, which gave the government broad powers to monitor citizens.

Estimates of the number of American Muslim voters vary, but the campaigns have been courting strong Muslim communities in key states including Florida, Michigan and Ohio.

Kerry already has won the backing of many smaller Muslim organizations and individual Muslim leaders. Polls show Kerry leading Bush among Muslim voters by a wide margin, although some support Bush for his tax policies and his conservative positions on gay marriage and other social issues.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington civil-rights group that belongs to the task force, said the group decided to include its critique about Kerry in the endorsement to send a message to the Massachusetts senator. "We want him to be very clear in his adherence to due process and the Constitution," Awad said.