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.
2,864 Articles
Purpose, Not Specificity, Limits the Pardon Power: A Rejoinder to Rappaport
'Tis the season for pardons. But must a pardon spell out the crimes to which it applies? The latest in an ongoing conversation between Prof's Bowman and Rappaport on the legality…
Can a Pardon Be a War Crime?: When Pardons Themselves Violate the Laws of War
Editor’s note: Originally published on May 25, 2019; with an author’s note published on Dec. 24, 2020. Author’s note, Dec. 24, 2020: Not all corrupt pardons…
Invoking Martial Law to Reverse the 2020 Election Could be Criminal Sedition
In his increasingly desperate bid to hang on to the White House, President Trump is reportedly contemplating invoking martial law to force the invalidation of the results of the…
Pardongate 2.0: Prosecutors and Congress Investigated Clinton’s Pardons. The Same Should Happen to Trump.
There's ample precedent (the investigations of Bill Clinton's pardons) and ample reason for Congress and the Department of Justice to launch investigations into President Trump's…
Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Meet the “John Does” – the Children Enslaved in Nestlé & Cargill’s Supply Chain
[Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series on the consolidated cases of Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe I and Cargill Inc. v. Doe I, which was argued before…
Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Shielding American Corporations from Liability Undermines the United States’ Moral Authority
Corporate defendants argue that courts should let Congress decide if and when to impose liability for human rights abuses abroad. But Congress has already spoken: through the Trafficking…
The System Is Not Working: The Lopsided Election Result, Not The Courts, Saved Our Democracy
The president’s post-election litigation has crashed and burned, but it has reinforced the pernicious idea, born from Bush v. Gore, that it is appropriate for courts to step…
Criminalizing Foreign Relations: How the Biden Administration Can Prevent a Global Arrest Game
The U.S. President is undoubtedly the chief U.S. diplomat, but is he or she also the chief prosecutor? Donald Trump clearly thinks so, stating once his grave misunderstanding that…
Are Blanket Pardons Constitutional? A Reply to Bowman
If news reports are to be believed, President Trump is considering issuing blanket pardons (“for any and all offenses”) to many of his family-members and associates. In an…
Beyond the ICC: Repositioning the Core of International Accountability
For the survivors of atrocities, justice may mean something very different from the remote procedures of the ICC. How can international systems of accountability center local justice?
The Constitutionality of Non-Specific Pardons
What the Framers' understanding and subsequent presidential practice tell us.
Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Judicial Activism, Corporate Exceptionalism, and the Puzzlement of Nestlé v. Doe
Congress has amended the Alien Tort Statute only three times. Yet judicial interpretation has significantly limited the statute's reach through "shadow amendments" to the text.…