Why the immigration initiative has nothing to do with assertions of executive constitutional power

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November 21, 2014

My quick take here, dispelling some of the more common misunderstandings about the legal bases of the Executive’s new immigration policies. 

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Recap of Recent Articles on Just Security (September 21-25)

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All the President’s Lawsuits: Fraud, Defamation, and the Westfall Act

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Bill Barr’s Misguided View of US History

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Trapped in a Pandemic: Iran’s Political Prisoners Face COVID-19 Behind Bars

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Trump Can’t Lawfully Use Armed Forces to Sway the Election: Understanding the Legal Boundaries

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Senate Procedures Offer No Hope for Dems on Supreme Court Nominee

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The Verdict in the Khashoggi Murder Isn’t Final By Any Stretch

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Justifying Absolute Political Control over DOJ, Barr Promotes Myth of Unaccountable Career Prosecutor

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With RBG’s Passing, Start Thinking About How to Rein in the Supreme Court

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Recap of Recent Articles on Just Security (September 14-18)

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Prepare for the Worst and Fight for the Best: A Citizen’s Guide to 2020 Electoral Interference

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At Least 15 Trump Officials Do Not Hold Their Positions Lawfully

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Whistleblower: DHS Suppressed Reports on Central America and Inflated Risk of Terrorist Border-Crossers

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Mass Job Losses and Other Economic Costs of President Trump’s Inaction on Coronavirus

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Déjà Vu All Over Again: Racial Disparity in the Military Justice System

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A Topical Index of COVID-19 Articles on Just Security

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Dannehy Resignation Confirms Barr’s Intent to Use Durham Probe for Political Ends

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Recap of Recent Articles on Just Security (September 7-11)

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Toward a New Approach to National and Human Security: Close Guantanamo and End Indefinite Detention

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On 9/11, Interrogating the Assumptions that Undergird the “Forever War”

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9/11’s Long Shadow: What’s at Stake in Afghanistan

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The Disturbing Links in Trump’s Transactional Foreign Policy: A New Post-Mortem on Guatemala’s Impunity Commission

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QAnon is a Nazi Cult, Rebranded

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Timeline of the Coronavirus Pandemic and U.S. Response

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Time to Fix a Broken Declassification System

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Recap of Recent Articles on Just Security (Aug 31-Sept 4)

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DOD Inspector General’s Report Whitewashes Potential Violations of the Posse Comitatus Act

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The Int’l Criminal Court Executive Order: Global Reactions Compiled

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Bill Barr’s Hidden Truths About Justice Department’s Rule of Forbearance in an Election

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Does Cy Vance Already Have the Trump Organization Tax Returns?

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Finding the Right U.S. Defense Leaders

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State Dept. Inspector General Report: A Troubling Message on Arms Sales

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Manafort’s Reward: Sen. Ron Johnson and the Ukraine Conspiracy Investigation: Part II

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Timeline: The Trump Administration and the U.S. Postal Service

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The Cost of Resilience: The Roots and Impacts of the Beirut Blast

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How the US and the EU Can Support Belarus Amid Its Historic Protests

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Exclusive: Obstruction At All Costs: The State Department’s Petty Document Fight with Congress

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A Conflict of Interest Raises Questions for State Department’s Top Lawyer

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I Resigned from U.S. Government After My Own Leaders Began to Act Like the Autocrats I Analyzed

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The OSCE: A Bulwark Against Authoritarianism

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Lebanon’s Peace Cartel is Irredeemable – How Donors Choose to Help Can Tip the Scales

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Supreme Court’s Trump v. Mazars Ruling Gave Attorney-Client Privilege a Boost in Congress

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US Court Skirmishes Over Deadline’s Validity Leave ERA in Limbo

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How Sen. Ron Johnson’s Investigation Became an Enabler of Russian Disinformation: Part I

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Immigration Maximalism at the Supreme Court

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The Second Oxford Statement on International Law Protections of the Healthcare Sector During Covid-19: Safeguarding Vaccine Research

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An Open Letter to Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham

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New Technologies, New Problems – Troubling Surveillance Trends in America

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Exploring Some Limitations to the ICC’s Ability to Charge US Officials with Contempt

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Canada’s Scattered and Uncoordinated Cyber Foreign Policy: A Call for Clarity

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Beyond Color-Blind National Security Law

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A Threat or A Warning: Russia’s Weapons Testing in Space

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Interview with Christof Heyns: Major New UN Comment on Right of Peaceful Assembly

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An Exercise in Doublespeak: Pompeo’s Flawed “Unalienable Rights” Commission

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China’s Forced Sterilization of Uyghur Women Violates Clear International Law

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Politically Motivated Prosecutions Part II: Refuse, Report, Resign

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A Window to Rein in DHS

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The Best Way to Improve on New START Is By Extending It

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Former DHS and Defense Dept Spokesperson: Trump’s Response to Civil Unrest in Portland is Damaging to Our Government and Our Democracy

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What Durham Is Investigating and Why It Poses a Danger to US Intelligence Analysis

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The President’s Private Army

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What Myanmar Is and Is Not Doing to Protect Rohingyas from Genocide

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Why 27 Distinguished DC Lawyers Filed a Complaint with Bar Association Against Attorney General Barr

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Questions the Senate Should Ask State Legal Adviser Nominee CJ Mahoney

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Trump Administration’s Women, Peace and Security Plans: Blueprint for Action or Empty Promises?

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What Comes Next: The Aftermath of European Court’s Blow to Transatlantic Data Transfers

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The Surprising Convergence Between Neo-Nazis and Jihadis

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Vehicle Ramming: The Evolution of a Terrorist Tactic Inside the US

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What’s Missing in Current and Former Officials’ Responses to DOJ Antitrust Whistleblower

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Black Security and the Conundrum of Policing

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Secretary Pompeo’s Surprising Defense of International Law, Allies, and the Law of the Sea Convention

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Racing National Security: Introduction to the Just Security Symposium

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An Incremental Step Toward Stopping Forever War?

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Trump Pushed CIA to Give Intelligence to Kremlin, While Taking No Action Against Russia Arming Taliban

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Mexico’s Priorities as an Elected Member to the Security Council for 2021-2022

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Unpacking the National Intelligence Council’s Memo on Russian Bounty Operation

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Patriotism and Justice on an Unusual Independence Day

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Welcoming E. Tendayi Achiume, Barbara McQuade, and Matiangai Sirleaf to Just Security’s Board of Editors

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First They Came For Me and My Colleagues: The U.S. Attack on the Int’l Criminal Court

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I help children in armed conflict. The President is forcing me to stop.

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A Solution in Search of a Problem: The Dangerous Invalidity of Divesting Military Commanders of Disposition Authority for Military Criminal Offenses

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A Rejoinder to China’s Response to UN Human Rights Experts

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11 Top Antitrust Experts Alarmed by Whistleblower Complaint Against A.G. Barr—and Office of Professional Responsibility’s Opinion

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The United Nations Charter at 75: Between Force and Self-Defense — Part Two

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Specific Questions for Congress (and News Media) to Ask Attorney General Barr

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Just Security’s New Co-Editor-in-Chief

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How Inter-State Procedures in Human Rights Treaties Can Support the Black Lives Matter Movement

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Statement of Homeland and National Security Leaders

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Dissecting the Executive Order on Int’l Criminal Court Sanctions: Scope, Effectiveness, and Tradeoffs

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The Strength of America’s Apolitical Military

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The Untold Power of Bill Barr to Direct US Military Forces in Case of “Civil Unrest”

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Standing, Not-Standing with the Protesters: U.S. Policy on Hong Kong and BLM

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The United States’ Racial Justice Problem Is Also an International Human Rights Law Problem

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The President and the Domestic Deployment of the Military: Answers to Five Key Questions

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A Bipartisan Push in Congress to Fight the ‘Parallel Pandemic’ of Human Rights Abuses Abroad

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Understanding the Michael Flynn Case: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff, and the Proper from the Improper

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Jurisdiction at Guantanamo: The Case of Long-Term Complicity

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Nuclear Arms Control, or a New Arms Race? Trump Seems Bent on the Latter.

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Advancing Rights and Justice During a Pandemic: An Online Event Series

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Tents at Sea: How Greek Officials Use Rescue Equipment for Illegal Deportations

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A Conversation With U.N. Special Rapporteur David Kaye: COVID-19 and Freedom of Expression

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Oxford Statement on the International Law Protections Against Cyber Operations Targeting the Health Care Sector

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Turkey Opened the Door to the European Court of Human Rights for Syrian Victims

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The Significance of the Supreme Court’s Opati Decision for States and Companies Sued for Terrorism in U.S. Courts

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The Trump Administration’s Indefensible Legal Defense of Its Asylum Ban

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What the Pandemic Tells Us About the State of U.S. Cybersecurity

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The Importance of New Statements on Sovereignty in Cyberspace by Austria, the Czech Republic and United States

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The Republic of Facebook

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The Perils of Hyping Pandemic Response as a National Security Issue

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Top Experts Analyze Inspector General Report Finding Problems in FBI Surveillance

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Why We Filed a FOIA Request on How Many US Troops Are in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria

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Assessing Emergency Powers During #COVID-19

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What Counts As Sufficient Transparency on Civilian Casualties in Somalia

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Seek and Speak the Truth

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WhatsApp v. NSO Group: State Immunity and Cyber Spying

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Deepfakes 2.0: The New Era of “Truth Decay”

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The Time has Come to Have a Conversation at the U.N. on Self-Defence

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Lawsuit Against Fox News Over Coronavirus Coverage: Can It Succeed? Should It?

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Don’t Bother Suing China for Coronavirus

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COVID-19 Shows How the U.S. Got National Security Wrong

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Biopharma: The Next National Security Frontier

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A Chance to Fix FISA

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Former Officials Challenge Pompeo’s Threats to the International Criminal Court

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The Soleimani Strike and the Case for War Powers Reform

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The Defense Department’s Measured Take on International Law in Cyberspace

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New Online Resource: War Powers and Presidential Practice

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For House, Senate National Security Committees, Stopgaps for Term Limits

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When Professionalism Mattered: Dissent Against U.S. Policy on Landmines

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The Soul of the Justice Department: Who Must Stand Up For It Now

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Punching on the Edges of the Grey Zone: Iranian Cyber Threats and State Cyber Responses

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Please Support Just Security with a Tax-Deductible Donation

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Confronting Russia’s Role in Transnational White Supremacist Extremism

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Reading Between the Votes: 53 Senators Say Trump Guilty on the Facts

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International Criminal Court and the Question of Palestine’s Statehood: Part II

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Compilation of States’ Reactions to U.S. and Iranian Uses of Force in Iraq in January 2020

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How to Think About the Soleimani Strike in Four Questions

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Iran’s Leaders Preserve the Republic With a Hybrid of International and Islamic Law

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The Need for Increased Amicus Role in the FISA Process

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U.S. Legal Defense of the Soleimani Strike at the United Nations: A Critical Assessment

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Reevaluating Our Counter-Terrorism Information Sharing Methods

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Lawful Self-Defense vs. Revenge Strikes: Scrutinizing Iran and U.S. Uses of Force under International Law

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The Targeted Killing of General Soleimani: Its Lawfulness and Why It Matters

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Iran’s Unlawful Reprisal (and Ours)

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Soleimani Strike Marks a Novel Shift in Targeted Killing, Dangerous to the Global Order

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United States Killed Iraqi Military Official and Iraqi Military Personnel in the Two Recent Attacks

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Top Experts’ Backgrounder: Military Action Against Iran and US Domestic Law

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The Crossfire Hurricane Report’s Inconvenient Findings

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Duty to Warn: Has the Trump Administration Learned from the Khashoggi Failure?

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Can Turkey be Expelled from NATO? It’s Legally Possible, Whether or Not Politically Prudent

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Climate Change Denialism Poses a National Security Threat

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What’s the New Terror Financing Executive Order All About?

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Guidelines on Investigating Violations of International Humanitarian Law

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Expert Summaries of Mueller Report: A Collection

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Army and Marine Corps Publish New Manual: The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare

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Guide to the Mueller Report’s Findings on “Collusion”

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Transparency on Civilian Harm in Somalia Matters – Not Just to Americans

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Human Rights, Deprivation of Life and National Security: Q&A with Christof Heyns and Yuval Shany on General Comment 36

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Need for Change to Protect Children in Armed Conflict

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About the Author(s)

Marty Lederman

Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He was Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Legal Counsel from 2009-2010, and Attorney Advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel from 1994-2002. Member of the editorial board of Just Security. You can follow him on Twitter (@marty_lederman).

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