February 13, 2025
Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher’s Acquittal Reminds Us to Never Rush to Judgment
We should be thankful for the due-process rights afforded every American by our Constitution.
We should be thankful for the due-process rights afforded every American by our Constitution.

When I have a chance to speak to students, one of the questions I’m most frequently asked is whether my life experience has caused me to change any of my deeply held political views. I have a ready answer: I’ve transitioned firmly from a law-and-order Republican to a civil libertarian, and the constitutional value I hold every bit as dear as the rights to free speech and free exercise of religion is the right to due process of law. A person’s liberty is precious, law enforcement is far more fallible than I wanted to believe, and social-media kangaroo courts are no substitute for the evidentiary rigor of a court of law.

These realities were affirmed yesterday, when a military jury found Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher not guilty of first-degree murder (he allegedly killed an ISIS prisoner in Iraq) and attempted murder (he allegedly sniped at Iraqi civilians).

Gallagher’s case achieved public prominence with the publication of a detailed New York Times report in April, which chronicled his alleged crimes and claimed that Navy officers and senior enlisted soldiers had warned SEALs who served under Gallagher against blowing the whistle on him.

The claims against Gallagher were of the utmost seriousness. He was accused of stabbing a teenaged ISIS prisoner in cold blood, bragging about the murder in a text message, and posing for a picture with the corpse. He was also accused of targeting and shooting civilians, including a young girl, with no conceivable military justification. These claims were part of a Navy report that the Times said painted a “disturbing picture of a subculture within the SEALs that prized aggression, even when it crossed the line, and that protected wrongdoers.”

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