Rep. Adam Smith calls Pentagon plan to stream Fort Hood shooter execution "barbaric and gratuitous"

Experts suggest that the legal pathway to challenge the Trump administration's decision to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan is quite limited. The execution, set to occur by firing squad on December 3, aims to broadcast the event worldwide, a move not explicitly outlined in Army regulations governing rare military executions. While this does not necessarily preclude legal challenges, it narrows the scope of who can bring such a case.

The only individual with a potentially viable claim to challenge the livestreaming is Hasan, the man sentenced to death for the 2009 shooting spree that killed 13 people at the Texas military base. However, it remains unclear whether Hasan will even attempt to contest the execution of his December 3 death sentence. Pentagon officials confirmed that Hasan's execution would indeed be streamed, with further details to follow.

While other experts, such as Brenner Fissell from Villanova University's law school, have proposed a potential avenue for challenge, their suggestions are speculative. Fissell noted that parents could argue against the livestream on the grounds that it exposes children to graphic content, citing Army regulations that prohibit anyone under 18 from witnessing military executions.

However, Fissell emphasized that the applicability of this rule to a livestream remains uncertain and has not been thoroughly explored. He suggested that this issue might result in an unlikely legal battle.

Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School with expertise in military law, echoed these sentiments, expressing doubt that most details of Hasan's execution would be open to legal challenge. Fidell acknowledged that Hasan could file a petition for habeas corpus in a U.S. District Court, arguing against the livestreaming. However, he found the proposed argument of parents preventing their children from watching the execution on the internet to be "very unlikely" and unlikely to be pursued by better legal minds.