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
ISIL = Genocide?
As we have discussed, the United States has launched further military action in Iraq. These operations follow limited airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant…
FISC OKs Section 215 Investigations of Americans, Despite First Amendment
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court declassified an opinion today which, although highly redacted, illuminates the way at least one Judge is interpreting his mandate to…
Official Act Immunity and the Singh Case
At Lawfare, John Bellinger has commented on Judge Boasberg’s August 19 ruling that former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is immune from suit for human rights abuses in…
Cert. petition in Ali accepts Justice Breyer’s invitation
As I posted back in April, Justice Breyer issued a statement respecting denial of certiorari in the case of Hussain v. Obama in which he more or less invited Guantánamo habeas…
Fast and Furious: Mixed Ruling in Oversight Committee v. Holder
This week, Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued an important opinion in Oversight Committee v. Holder, ongoing litigation in federal court in the District of Columbia. After the House…
Presidential Authority to Conclude an Iran Nuclear Agreement—and the Senate’s Self-Defeating Bill
The prospect of a successful conclusion to the ongoing negotiations with Iran over a nuclear deal promises to generate a debate over fundamental constitutional questions about…
Impact(s) of the Boehner Lawsuit on the Separation of Powers in National Security
While there have been countless articles written on the House efforts to sue President Obama, few commentators have opined on the likely impact(s) of the House lawsuit on national…
Medical Repatriation of Aging Guantanamo Detainees: The case of Al-Adahi
Mohammed Al-Adahi, a Yemeni national who has been detained at Guantanamo for more than 12 years and was approved for conditional release in 2010, has been described by his lawyers…
The important and difficult issues in the al-Nashiri case: When did the war begin? And was the COLE bombing a war crime?
The tragic bombing of the USS COLE by al Qaeda operatives in October 2000 was a heinous crime. Even if it occurred as part of an armed conflict between the United States and…
Verdict in Cambodia: Too Little Too Late, but Still Important
Amidst all the developments in the Middle East, we could not allow the verdict rendered by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Case 002 to go unacknowledged.…
Judge Bates (Unintentionally) Makes the Case for FISC Reform
Whatever one thinks of the Senate version of the USA FREEDOM Act–which offers a series of substantive and procedural reforms to U.S. surveillance programs–it is now…
Deferential D.C. Circuit Upholds Genital Searches at Guantánamo
I’ve written before about the potential significance of the Guantánamo “counsel access” case—Hatim v. Obama–which raised the question of whether…