Democracy & Rule of Law
Just Security’s expert authors provide analysis on threats and challenges to democracy and the rule of law in the United States and globally. Coverage includes analysis of the separation of powers, good governance, democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, judicial independence, freedom of the press and association, and accountability for rule of law violations.
3,157 Articles
Faith Based Leaders’ Letter to Trump: Anti-Muslim Tweets Threaten the First Amendment
Readers of Just Security may find of interest the letter that my colleagues and I at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection sent today…
USG Statement on Int’l Criminal Court Probe into Alleged U.S. War Crimes is Missing Some Things
As states gathered earlier this month to kick off the 16th Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court, ICC watchers wondered what to expect from…
Beyond Customary International Law: What Jesner Can Learn From Corporate Criminal Liability for International Crimes
Ed. note. This article is the latest in our series on the U.S. Supreme Court case Jesner. v. Arab Bank, a case that is slated to resolve the question of whether corporations can…
Trump’s Year of Secrecy
In a representative democracy, the people are supposed to supervise the government’s activities and hold political leaders accountable for their decisions. That oversight…
“Congressional Authorizations on Use of Force,” by Defense Dep’t Principal Deputy General Counsel William Castle (Full Text)
On Monday evening, William S. Castle, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, gave a speech entitled, “Congressional Authorizations on Use of Force?,” at the New York City Bar Association.…
Why Conservatives Should Embrace Bob Mueller
Conservatives have strong reasons to embrace—rather than try to discredit—Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. An effort appears underway to damage the credibility of Mueller’s…
The House Intelligence Committee’s Section 702 Markup Was a Politicized Debacle
On Dec. 1, 2017, the House Intelligence Committee took the unusual step of holding an open markup of its bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…
Incomplete Justice: The Officer Who Killed Walter Scott Should Have Gotten Life Behind Bars
On Thursday, Michael Slager, a former police officer with the North Charleston, S.C. Police Department, was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison—not life imprisonment.…
Why Microsoft Challenged the Right Law: A Response to Orin Kerr
This coming spring, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the United States v. Microsoft – a case that will determine the authority of U.S. law enforcement to compel, via…
Former Prosecutor Renato Mariotti’s Tweet Threads on National Security (Dec. 1-8)
Here is an exposition and analysis of some of this week’s national security-related threads authored by Just Security Editorial Board member and former federal prosecutor Renato…
Thoughts on Erik Prince’s Proposal to Privatize Intelligence Gathering
This week we learned, via the Intercept, of Erik Prince’s proposal to provide the Trump Administration with a private intelligence outfit. According to the Intercept, “The…
Why Don Jr.’s Attorney-Client Privilege Claim Is Dubious
Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, met with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) on Wednesday and raised eyebrows when he invoked attorney-client…