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<span class="vcard">Joseph Margulies</span>

Joseph Margulies

Guest Author

For those who care about titles, I am a Professor of the Practice of Law and Government at Cornell University. Like most people, however, I have diverse interests that are not well captured by the content of my business card. Wearing my academic hat, I have written a slew of articles and three books: Thanks for Everything (Now Get Out): Can We Restore Neighborhoods Without Destroying Them (Yale 2021); What Changed When Everything Changed: 9/11 and the Making of National Identity (Yale 2013), and Guantánamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power (Simon & Schuster 2006). Guantánamo won a bunch of awards, which was very nice. I am working on a book about forgiveness in the criminal justice system. Wearing my litigator hat, I was counsel in Rasul v. Bush (2004), involving detentions at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station, and in Geren v. Omar & Munaf v. Geren (2008), involving detentions at Camp Cropper in Iraq, and am presently counsel in US v. Husayn, involving detention and torture at a black site in Poland.

Articles by this author:

People in black hoods and orange jumpsuits walk in front of US Capitol Building

Russian Torture and American (Selective) Memory

Oct. 13, 2022
The empty courtroom of the U.S. Supreme Court is seen September 30, 2016. Curtains are parted to reveal chairs, pews, and the seats for the judges at the front of the room.

In US v. Husayn (Abu Zubaydah), the Supreme Court Calls Torture What It Is

Mar. 11, 2022
A letter dated October 29, 2021. It reads, “From: Panel ICO U.S. vs. Khan; To: Convening Authority; The panel members listed below recommend clemency in the case of Majid Shoukat Khan. Mr. Kahn committed serious crimes against the U.S. and partner nations. He has plead guilty to these crimes and taken responsibility for his actions. Further, he has expressed remorse for the impact of the victims and their families. Clemency is recommended with the following justification: 1) Mr. Khan has been held without the basic due process under the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, he was held without charge or legal representation for nine years until 2021, and held without final sentencing until October 2021. Although designated on ‘alien unprivileged enemy belligerent,’ and not technically afforded the rights of U.S. citizens, the complete disregard for the foundational concepts upon which the Constitution was founded is an affront to American values and concept of Justice. 2) Mr. Khan was subjected to physical and psychological abuse well beyond approved enhanced interrogation techniques, instead being closer to torture performed by the most abusive regimes in modern history. This abuse was of no practical value in terms of intelligence, or any other tangible benefit to U.S. interests. Instead, it is a stain on the moral fiber of America; the treatment of Mr. Khan in the hands of U.S. personnel should be a source of shame for the U.S. government. 3) Mr. Khan committed his crimes as a young man reeling from the loss of his mother. A vulnerable target for extremist recruiting, he fell to influences furthering Islamic radical philosophies, just as many others have in recent years. Now at the age of 41 with a daughter he has never seen, he is remorseful and not a threat for future extremism. It is the view of the penal members below that clemency be granted based on the points above, as well as Mr. Khan’s continued cooperation with us efforts in other, more critical, prosecutions. Panel #1, Panel #8, Panel #5, Panel #9, Panel #12, Panel #4, Panel #11.”

Military Officers’ Handwritten Clemency Letter at Guantanamo – What It Says About Who We Are

Nov. 8, 2021
A screenshot from C-SPAN showing headshots of the Supreme Court justices. The caption underneath reads, “State Secrets, Torture & CIA Black Sites; Oral Argument; United States v. Zubaydah”

Ruminations on the Abu Zubaydah Supreme Court Oral Argument: Three Surprising Turns

Oct. 18, 2021
Michael Ratner, a US Military Defence Lawyer and one of the counsel in the US Supreme Court, listens during a press conference concerning the situation of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in London, 24 March 2004.

The Humanity of Michael Ratner, The Fabrications of Samuel Moyn

Sep. 13, 2021 and

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