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.
3,474 Articles

Somewhat Improved, the CLOUD Act Still Poses a Threat to Privacy and Human Rights
Above: President Donald Trump gestures to the $1.3 trillion spending bill passed by Congress early Friday. The president just signed a 2,232 page omnibus bill to fund the government…

Congress Should Place More Limits on Cellphone Location Tracking After Carpenter
This spring, the United States Supreme Court will issue a ruling in the landmark case of Carpenter v. United States, deciding whether the government requires a warrant to continuously…

How Reconciliation in Iraq Could Stop Collective Punishment
Policymakers in Iraq, and in countries supporting its government, are debating what kind of reconciliation efforts are needed post-ISIS. Meanwhile, without fanfare, the town of…

Privacy and Civil Liberties under the CLOUD Act: A Response
[Cross-Posted at Lawfare] In a post last week, Neema Singh Guliani of the ACLU and Naureen Shah of Amnesty International disagreed with our earlier arguments as to “Why the CLOUD…

Did Cambridge Analytica Leverage Russian Disinformation for Trump?
The FBI investigation into Russian election interference already includes exploration of how far-right media outlets propelled Russian disinformation. What role did Cambridge Analytica…

All Politics Is Local…and So Is National Security
The current public kerfuffle about White House security clearances has focused the country’s attention on the sensitivity of federal government information and the potential…

Sessions’ Firing McCabe Violated His Promise to Recuse
Most focus on what the Attorney General said in his statement of recusal in March 2017. What has been overlooked is when Sessions promised the Senate, under oath, that he would…

Why Holding Asylum Seekers Without Parole is Unlawful
Alexi, an 18-year-old man from Honduras, has been locked behind bars in an orange jumpsuit in York County Prison in Pennsylvania since November. Why? Because he sought protection…

How Trump Might Replace Sessions with Pruitt as Attorney General
Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair reports of “two Republicans in regular contact with the White House” who say that President Trump “has discussed a plan to fire…

Mueller’s Choice of Criminal Charges: Why the Trump Team Should Be Very Worried
The Russians not only told the Trump campaign that they had dirt on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails, but also previewed for George Papadopoulos that they could…

Putin’s Story of What Happened in 2016 Sounds Familiar
Where have I heard that story before? Tonight, NBC will air an hour-long special featuring a sit-down interview between Megyn Kelly and Russian President Vladimir Putin. A preview…

The Post-Election Mystery of Carter Page
Do we all need Carter Page, the former foreign policy adviser on the Trump campaign, to be a little more than he really is? For supporters of President Donald Trump (and Page himself),…