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.
2,859 Articles
Has the Government Conceded that Courts Can Review Detainees’ End-of-War Claims?
The first article I published after law school was a little piece in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, focusing on the then-hypothetical…
The Intelligence Time Machine
On Tuesday, members in the House and Senate introduced new versions of the USA Freedom Act that would prohibit bulk collection of records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act,…
The Minimalist Surveillance Reforms of USA Freedom
On April 30, the House Judiciary Committee will take up a warmed-over version of last year’s USA Freedom Act. The committee has offered a rather optimistic claim of the surveillance…
Has the Gov’t Under-Charged an al-Qaeda Recruit?: The Ohio case of Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud
An important criminal charge is conspicuously absent in the Indictment of Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, who is reportedly “the first American accused of returning from Syria with…
Senator McConnell’s Modest Proposal to Reform Section 215: Don’t!
With only 14 legislative days remaining (in the House, anyway) before Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act (which the government argues, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…
The al Bahlul Oral Argument Semianniversary
Today, April 22, marks the six-month anniversary of the oral argument before the D.C. Circuit in al Bahlul v. United States, by far the most significant constitutional challenge…
U.S. Policy on the ICC Crime of Aggression Announced
At the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law earlier this month, Professor Michael J. Matheson of George Washington University Law School chaired a fascinating…
More on Flawed Research and Flawed Counterterrorism Policies
I want to concur with the thoughtful views articulated by Michael German last week addressing terrorism and counterterrorism research. Having spent twenty years working and researching…
Appointing Democratic Judges to the FISA Court Won’t Solve Its Structural Flaws
Chief Justice Roberts recently named two new judges to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) — Judge James P. Jones from the Western District of Virginia and Judge…
The European Convention meets the Crisis in Ukraine
This post is part II of a series on the European Union and Council of Europe’s response to the Ukraine Crisis. In parallel to the muti-pronged EU action I discussed on Friday,…
The Targeted Killing That Wasn’t: What We Can Learn From the Case of Mohanad Mahmoud al-Farekh
A 2009 US Air Force photo titled “Ready to hunt” shows an armed MQ-9 Reaper drone taxiing in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Almost two weeks ago, we learned from the Washington…
The Patriot Act’s Sunset is the Perfect Chance to Make the FISA Court More Like a Real Court
In the coming weeks, Congress must decide whether to renew the Patriot Act, which the National Security Agency (NSA) uses to collect Americans’ telephone records in bulk, regardless…