Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development v. Ashcroft
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
333 F.3d 156 (2003)
- Written by Jenny Perry, JD
Facts
In 2001, as part of the response to the September 11 attacks, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft (defendant) designated the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) (plaintiff) as a global terrorist and issued an order blocking HLF’s assets. The designation was based on substantial evidence that HLF was linked to Hamas, which had previously been lawfully designated as a terrorist organization. HLF was a tax-exempt entity and had defined itself as a nonprofit charitable corporation without reference to any religious character or purpose. HLF challenged its designation as a global terrorist and argued, among other things, that the government’s actions violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which barred the government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion, even if the burden resulted from a rule of general applicability, unless the government demonstrated a compelling governmental interest and used the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. The district court entered judgment in favor of the government on HLF’s RFRA claim, and HLF appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Sentelle, J.)
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