Courts & Litigation
Just Security’s expert authors offer analysis and informational resources on key litigation impacting national security, rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Our content spans domestic and international litigation, from cases at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and other international and regional tribunals, to those in U.S. courts involving executive branch actions, transnational litigation, and more.
2,932 Articles
ICC Afghanistan Torture Investigation Likely to Turn on Criminal Intent
Good-faith reliance on advice of counsel is a well-established defense in U.S. criminal law, but it has not yet been tested at the ICC.
Governors and Mayors, Beware: Lawsuits Opposing Coronavirus Mitigation Orders Are a Real Threat
Lessons from when Confederacy-sympathizing judges tried to prevent Lincoln from saving the republic. By leading legal historian David Golove.
Lawsuit Against Fox News Over Coronavirus Coverage: Can It Succeed? Should It?
There are reasons to be wary of lawsuits as a tactic for controlling the information that media outlets disseminate, even if it is to punish Fox News.
Don’t Bother Suing China for Coronavirus
"Simply put, any scholar or practitioner with working knowledge of the law of foreign sovereign immunity would have taken one look at the headlines about these lawsuits (as I did)…
Rube Goldberg and Military Justice
The decisional layer cake that Congress has put in place over the years, including on sexual assault, is rife with potential for yet more command influence.
Disrupt, Don’t Indict: Why the United States Should Stop Indicting Foreign State Actor Hackers
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Nicolás Maduro, who the United States ceased to recognize as Venezuela’s president in early 2019, for narco-terrorism…
Public Officials Can’t Block Critics from Official Social Media Accounts
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request for full court review of last year’s decision holding that the president…
Supreme Court of Canada Recognizes Corporate Liability for Human Rights Violations
While it seems clear that international human rights norms apply to corporations just as they apply to natural persons. But it is up to each nation to decide whether and how to…
Is Pompeo Unintentionally Helping Out the International Criminal Court?
While likely doing little to dissuade those at the ICC and elsewhere who are committed to seeking accountability for the United States’ previous rendition and torture program,…
Use the Defense Production Act to Flatten the Curve
James Baker, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, urges the President to take more decisive…
Barr Is Dismantling Charges Filed by Mueller
Another curious filing by the Department of Justice should not be lost amid news about COVID-19. In yet another reversal in a case initiated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller,…
The Espionage Act Reform Bill Addresses Key Press Concerns
On March 5, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced sorely needed legislation to reform the Espionage Act.