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.
3,030 Articles
Immunity Doctrines: The Need for a Systemic Approach
It was a pleasure this week to speak on a panel entitled “Chaos & Immunity: Core Crimes & Sitting Heads of States” at the American Branch of the International Law Association’s…
The Blackwater Trial: Part 2 – Two Legal Issues
In the first part of this summary, we introduced the individuals in Blackwater’s Raven 23 team and set out their contrasting arguments about what took place at Nisour Square…
The Blackwater Trial: Part 1 – Two Factual Issues
Earlier this week, a jury in Washington D.C. convicted four Blackwater guards for a shooting at Nisour Square, Baghdad. The sniper Nicholas Slatten was convicted of premeditated…
Decision on Secret Evidence by the European Court of Human Rights Worth Noting
Two European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) cases decided in July 2014 bring some clarity to the utility and compatibility of secret evidence with international human rights standards.…
Samantar v. Yousuf: What Happens Next?
As Beth Van Schaack reported last week, the Supreme Court has called for the views of the Solicitor General in Samantar v. Yousuf, a case raising questions about the immunity of…
Time to Give the Sleeves From Our Vest and Acknowledge the Extraterritoriality of the Convention Against Torture
As David Luban noted yesterday evening, Charlie Savage of The New York Times reported that the Obama Administration likely plans to continue to espouse Bush-era positions on the…
Apple, Boyd, and Going Dark
Apple’s recent announcement that it will encrypt its newest iPhones is again pushing to the fore the question of whether the law should be updated to require companies to have…
Military Commissions After Guantánamo
This Wednesday morning at 9:30 (EDT), a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit (Henderson, Rogers, & Tatel, JJ.) will hear oral argument in al Bahlul v. United States–a Guantánamo…
Rejecting the Bush Comparison: A Response to Goldsmith & Waxman
Jack Goldsmith and Matthew Waxman have written an interesting essay on President Obama’s war powers legacy, boldly titled “Obama, not Bush, is the Master of Unilateral War.”…
New al-Nashiri developments . . . regarding the MV Limburg and USS COLE charges [UPDATED as of late November]
In recent days the lawyers for Abd al-Rahim Hussain al-Nashiri, the military commission defendant charged with involvement in the bombings of the USS COLE and MV Limburg, have…
State Secrets Might Get a Little More Secret
The state secrets privilege has been the topic of significant academic and judicial focus, particularly in the post-9/11 era in which invocations of the privilege were seen by…
Bad Timing: The US, Iran, and the East Africa Embassy Bombing Judgement
Yesterday, a US judge awarded victims of the Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania $622 million in damages against the governments of Sudan and Iran. It is important to see justice…