During a teleconference call on July 12, 2010 Georgetown Law Professor David Cole, who represented Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) and argued the case before the Supreme Court, spoke about the case and its potential adverse impact on conflict resolution work (mp3 file) around the world. The Association for Conflict Resolution sponsored the teleconference call.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project preserved key provisions of the Patriot Act, and states that the government has the authority to criminalize “material support” to terrorist organizations, including any “service,” “training,” “expert advice or assistance” or “personnel.” Under the law, individuals face up to 15 years in prison for providing “material support” to foreign terrorist organizations, even if their work is intended to promote peaceful, lawful objectives. More about the HLP case is available here.