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.
2,869 Articles
Immunities and Criminal Prosecution within the United States & Beyond
The African Union’s controversial effort to grant sitting heads-of-state and “other senior state officials” immunity before the proposed new African criminal chambers (see…
The Stakes of al-Bahlul, Nine Months Later…
This past Monday marked nine months since the en banc oral argument in al-Bahlul v. United States, in which the D.C. Circuit is considering whether military commissions at Guantánamo…
Riley v. California — An Important Step Forward, but How Far Forward?
The joined cases of Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie rightly have been hailed as a ringing endorsement of privacy in the digital age. By holding that police may…
Fifth Circuit on Extraterritorial Application of Fourth and Fifth Amendments
On the heels of this morning’s Fourth Circuit decision in the Abu Ghraib case comes another significant circuit-level decision–this one from the Fifth Circuit. The…
A Rejoinder to Jeff Kahn on Latif and Fundamental Rights
In Jeff Kahn’s response today to my post last week about American citizens’ right not to be stranded abroad by their government, Jeff asks more about my views: “Is international…
A Reply to Margo Schlanger on Latif and Fundamental Rights
Margo Schlanger’s post on Thursday takes as its “vital point” the right of an American citizen to reenter the United States. Margo is responding to Tuesday’s news about…
Fourth Circuit Holds Abu Ghraib Torture Claims Not Barred by Kiobel
Although it will likely be overtaken by the news set to come out of the Supreme Court later this morning, the Fourth Circuit has handed down a very big decision in the ongoing…
Abu Khattalah and the Evolution of Ship-Based Detention
The N.Y. Times reports that Ahmed Abu Khattalah arrived in Washington, D.C., this morning by helicopter following his transport across the Atlantic on a Navy warship. Khattalah,…
Pleasant Surprises – and One Disappointment – in the Supreme Court’s Cell Phone Decision
As commentators quickly recognized, there’s just cause for celebration in this week’s Supreme Court decision in Riley v. California, requiring a warrant to search an arrestee’s…
The Supreme Court Goes to War:
Hamdi, Padilla, and Rasul at 10
Ten years ago tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its first three decisions in post-September 11 terrorism cases: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, and Rasul v.…
The Bigger No Fly List Problem
Yesterday, Judge Anna Brown issued her much-anticipated opinion in Latif v. Holder, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. As Jennifer Daskal explained in her excellent…
SCOTUS & Cell Phone Searches: Digital is Different
Today, the Supreme Court unanimously invalidated warrantless searches of cell phones incident to arrest in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie. Full disclosure: my colleagues…