The World We Live In
Temple Law Review, Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 295-308, Winter 2011
15 Pages Posted: 10 Sep 2011 Last revised: 3 Oct 2011
Date Written: March 1, 2011
Abstract
This Essay focuses on a threat to our constitutional order - the curtailment of freedom of speech in the name of fighting terrorism. Specifically, my subject is the Supreme Court’s decision last June in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, which upheld the authority of Congress to criminalize political advocacy on behalf of foreign terrorist organizations. Like warrantless wiretapping, the risk of a criminal prosecution for political advocacy - for example, an utterance by an American citizen in an American forum that a foreign terrorist organization has a just cause - poses a threat to our democracy, but the danger is greater. The risk of warrantless wiretapping inhibits speech; the risk of a criminal prosecution stops it altogether.
Keywords: War on Terror, freedom of speech, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, Supreme Court
JEL Classification: K30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation