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
More Details on Trump, Russia, and the Mysterious Magnitsky Connection
As reported Monday by Rob Berschinski and Adam Nagy, the Magnitsky Act is back in the news in connection with media reporting on the June 2016 meeting between Russian lawyer Natalia…
Possible Presidential Pardon Scenarios
[Update] On Thursday, news outlets reported that President Donald Trump has been consulting with his lawyers about granting pardons in the Russia investigation, including a potential…
Kaveladze’s Writings: Called Media Coverage of Major Russian Crime Syndicate an “Ethnic Witch Hunt”
It is now widely reported that that Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze, the so-called eighth-person in the Trump campaign meeting with Russians on June 9, 2016, played a key role in…
Rinat Akhmetshin: Low-Hanging Fruit for Trump-Russia Investigators
Since last week’s revelation of Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and several of her associates, much of the legal focus has…
Did Trump Campaign Collude with Russia to Defeat Republican Opponents in GOP Primary?
Russia’s election interference began well before the general election. It started during the GOP primaries and clearly in support of Donald Trump over his GOP opponents. Thanks…
Letter to the Editor: Sorry, No More Chances for CVE
We read with great interest your July 5 article, Giving CVE a Chance, which minimizes the complaints of “detractors” of the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program without…
The Office of Legal Counsel and Secret Law
In theory, it’s the province of the judiciary to say what the law is, but in practice this task often falls to the Office of Legal Counsel. This is because many important questions…
Trump Tower Meeting Helps Show Collusion Up To Election Day
Just Security’s Rolf Mowatt-Larssen and Ryan Goodman make the following points. Knowing about the Trump Tower meeting with Russians on June 9, 2016, we can now understand much…
David Cole on Stopping Authoritarianism’s Rise in the United States
Since becoming National Legal Director of the ACLU, Just Security editorial board member David Cole has been spending a lot of time in Just Security’s home base of New…
A Guide to this Week’s News Coverage of Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting
The Russia-Trump story accelerated this week as it was revealed that Don Jr.’s now infamous June 9 meeting at Trump Tower had little to do with adoptions, as he first claimed.…
Norms Watch: Democracy, the Trump Administration, and Reactions to It (July 7-July 14)
Editor’s Note: Welcome to the latest installment of Norms Watch, our series tracking both the flouting of democratic norms by the Trump administration and the erosion of…
Considering the Legal Defenses of the Trump Jr. Meeting
A number of good legal commentaries have challenged rushing to judgment on the legal implications of the Trump campaign meeting with the Russian government. It is entirely fair…