Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project: Redefining Free Speech Protection in the War on Terror

Abstract

Picture a twenty-six-year-old former Army Ranger who returns home from Iraq feeling a little lost, as if he has yet to discover his life’s purpose. Let’s call this man Pete. Pete enrolls in college upon his return, but then drops out to train as an emergency medical technician. After he completes that training, he decides to restart his collegiate career, but he never graduates. Along the way, he falls in love and gets married, but the marriage ends in divorce a few months later. Then, on a spring break trip, Pete finally finds his calling. Pete travels to Lebanon to use his medical training to assist Syrian refugees. He skips his return flight home to stay and continue providing aid to people who escaped revolution and upheaval. Pete continues providing aid over the following months and he eventually forms an aid organization that provides medical care and aid to anyone who needs it, from refugees to rebels. Now imagine Pete returns to the United States for the holidays, but instead of being greeted by his family and friends, he is met by federal agents who arrest him for providing material support to terrorists. Up until the point of Pete’s return home, this was the story of AbdulRahman Peter Kassig before he was captured, held captive, and eventually executed by ISIS. Had Kassig, who President Obama described as a 1