Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0692
Case Information
- Content Scored
- Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. 1 (2010) — material-support-to-terrorism ban upheld vs. First Amendment challenge
- Source
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Author
- Chief Justice Roberts (majority; 6-3)
- Publication Date
- 2010-06-21
- Content Type
- Court Opinion
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-19
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
The Court held 18 U.S.C. 2339B's ban on providing material support (training, expert advice, service, personnel) to designated foreign terrorist organizations is constitutional as applied, even for ostensibly peaceful ends, because "the First Amendment does not protect political speech or expressive conduct that materially supports foreign terrorist organizations." Scored on the majority holding at the intersection of national security and free speech. Strongly aligned on the national-security side: it sustains counterterrorism power (material support "frees up resources" and "lends legitimacy" to groups that keep no "firewalls"), serving Peace Through Strength (Article XVI, 82), Safety of the Citizen (XVIII, 78), and — because it targets FOREIGN terror orgs — America Above Foreign Interests (I, 76). In tension on the free-speech side: it upholds a restriction on speech/advocacy and is the first restriction on political speech to survive strict scrutiny — a real Article VII tension (weight 10). The Court weighs it as real but limited (50), because Article VII protects American discourse and forbids censorship of American voices; it was not written to shield coordinated material support to foreign terrorists. That tension holds an otherwise strongly-aligned national-security ruling to the middle of Mostly America First. No Automatic Fail — banning support to foreign terror orgs is the antithesis of the foreign-aid trigger, and a narrow material-support restriction is not universal censorship (Rule 6). As a court opinion evaluated for the principle it enacts, the v1.2 Legal/Normative Text Weighting (85/15) applies. Tier 1 = 71; Final 74 — Mostly America First.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0692 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.