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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On Functional Immunity of Foreign Officials and Crimes under International Law

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Legally Sliding into War

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The Global Fragility Act Could Give US Assistance and Diplomacy a New Start for Countries in Conflict

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Taking Gender Into Account to Better Confront New Security Threats

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Principles for a 2021 Authorization for Use of Military Force

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Just Security Obtains Overseas Troop Counts That the Pentagon Concealed from the Public

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Upcoming Cases Provide Opportunities to Reassess the Application of the Due Process Clause at Guantanamo

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The “Khashoggi Ban” and What It Does and Doesn’t Mean

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Protecting the Information Space in Times of Armed Conflict

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What We Can Learn from Global Policy About Preventing Domestic Extremism

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Legal Questions (and Some Answers) Concerning the U.S. Military Strike in Syria

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Telegram: A Growing Social Media Refuge, for Good and Ill

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Is Climate Change a National Emergency?

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UN Security Council Won’t Respond to Myanmar’s Coup, But the General Assembly Can

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Trump’s War Powers Legacy and Questions for Biden

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Families in the Crosshairs of National Security

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Oversight Board’s First Rulings Show Facebook’s Rules Are a Mess

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Their Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3 and Ours

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In Their Own Words: The 43 Republicans’ Explanations of Their Votes Not to Convict Trump in Impeachment Trial

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Biden Paused Trump’s WeChat and TikTok Bans: Now What?

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Avoiding Collateral Damage on the Battlefield

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#StopTheSteal: Timeline of Social Media and Extremist Activities Leading to 1/6 Insurrection

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Uganda’s Museveni Secured His Sixth Term in Office: What the International Community Can Do Now

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A Key Step in Preventing a Future SolarWinds

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Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda

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Congress Now Has More Power to Shed Light on Trump’s Abuses of Power

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How to Fix the U.S. Litigation Position in Key Pending Cases

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De-platforming Is a Fix, But Only a Short-Term One

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Transforming the US Human Rights Report to Reflect Gender Rights — and Security

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De-platforming Following Capitol Insurrection Highlights Global Inequities Behind Content Moderation

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December Brought Harbingers of the Regulation Social Media Companies Could Soon Face

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Incitement Timeline: Year of Trump’s Actions Leading to the Attack on the Capitol

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The Promises of FOIA in 2021: A Ready Pathway to Accountability

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Please Support Just Security With a Tax-Deductible Donation

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Top Expert Backgrounder: Russia’s SolarWinds Operation and International Law

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Pandemic Consequences: The Acceleration of Confrontational Politics

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Beyond the ICC: Repositioning the Core of International Accountability

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We Can’t “Look Forward” on the Trump Administration’s Abuses

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The UDHR, Digital Authoritarianism, and Human Rights after Trump

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New Zealand Pushes the Dialogue on International Cyber Law Forward

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Global Kleptocracy as an American Problem

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Data and Democracy: Three Things the Biden-Harris Administration Should Do to Tackle Big Tech

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How I Came to Support the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons

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Revisiting the Office of Legal Counsel’s Override Opinion

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A Landmark Report on Starvation as a Method of Warfare

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Turning the Page: A Biden Presidency and the Role for Us

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Good Governance Paper No. 19: The Criminal Legal System — Toward a Paradigm Shift

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Good Governance Paper No. 18: Reforming Emergency Powers

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Good Governance Paper No. 14: War Powers Reform

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The Necessity of Enforcing Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in the Context of Counterterrorism

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Good Governance Paper No. 8: How to Strengthen Oversight by Congress

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A Transatlantic Plan for Racial Equity and Justice

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A Blueprint for the Future: The CIA in 2021 and Beyond

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App Stores as Back-Doors for Government Regulation of End-to-End Encryption

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The Good Governance Papers: An Introduction

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Prosecuting the ISIS “Beatles:” A testament to dedicated US government professionalism

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Ten Quick Takeaways from the New York Times’ Bombshell Article on Trump’s Tax Returns

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An Enduring Impasse on Autonomous Weapons

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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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QAnon is a Nazi Cult, Rebranded

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

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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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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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The Surprising Convergence Between Neo-Nazis and Jihadis

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Black Security and the Conundrum of Policing

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Racing National Security: Introduction to the Just Security Symposium

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

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

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

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

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Jurisdiction at Guantanamo: The Case of Long-Term Complicity

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

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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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What Counts As Sufficient Transparency on Civilian Casualties in Somalia

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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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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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A Chance to Fix FISA

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

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

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Confronting Russia’s Role in Transnational White Supremacist Extremism

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

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

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Guidelines on Investigating Violations of International Humanitarian Law

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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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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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