Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. 1 (2010), was a case decided in June 2010 by the US Supreme Court regarding the Patriot Act's prohibition on providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations (18 U.S.C. § 2339B). The case, petitioned by United States Attorney General Eric Holder, represents one of only two times in First Amendment jurisprudence that a restriction on political speech has overcome strict scrutiny. The other is "Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar".

The Supreme Court ruled against the Humanitarian Law Project, which sought to help the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam learn how to resolve conflicts peacefully. It concluded that the US Congress had intended to prevent aid to such groups, even for the purpose of facilitating peace negotiations or United Nations processes because that assistance fit the law's definition of material aid as "training," "expert advice or assistance," "service," and "personnel." The finding was based on the principle that any assistance could help to "legitimate" the terrorist organization and free up its resources for terrorist activities.

The court noted that the proposed actions of the Humanitarian Law Project were general and "entirely hypothetical" and implied that a post-enforcement challenge to the application of the "material support" provisions was not prevented.
Q11201
US Supreme Court
Concept
Q221689
Patriot Act
PER
Q7252540
providing material support
Concept
Q2170633
foreign terrorist organizations
MEDIA
Q636207
United States Attorney General
Concept
Q312644
Eric Holder
PER
Q12616
First Amendment
EVE
Q7623621
strict scrutiny
UNK
Q20647987
Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar
Concept
Q5939461
Humanitarian Law Project
ORG
Q152220
Kurdistan Workers' Party
ORG
Q43
Turkey
LOC
Q854
Sri Lanka
LOC
Q80312
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
ORG
Q11268
US Congress
Concept
Q1065
United Nations
Concept
Q5879622
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project
EVE
2010-06-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
June 2010
DATE
2339-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2339
DATE
+1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1
NUMBER
+2010^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2010
NUMBER
+18^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
18
NUMBER
court
position held
country