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.
3,333 Articles
Guest Post: CVE Efforts Should be Based on Facts, Not Flawed Theories
Ed. note: This guest post was produced as part of the Brennan Center for Justice’s interview series, Rethinking Intelligence. Yesterday, the White House kicked-off a three-day summit…
In Syria – Learning Lessons from the “Success” of Yemen
Since Wednesday’s submission for a new authorization on the use of force against ISIL, many (including in this forum) are talking about the proposed act, how it relates to previous…
Guest Post: US Intelligence Reforms Still Allow Plenty of Suspicionless Spying on Americans
Last week, the Obama Administration released a report and documents cataloging progress toward signals intelligence (SIGINT) reform goals set a year ago by the President in a document…
Surveillance and the Vanishing Right to Know
Editor’s Note: This post offers a preview of the authors’ upcoming article in the Santa Clara Law Review: The Notice Paradox: Secret Surveillance, Criminal Defendants…
Homeland Insecurity: Checkpoints, Warrantless Searches and Security Theater
Since June 2013, the American public, press, and policy-makers have been debating the implications of Edward Snowden’s disclosures of mass U.S. government surveillance programs,…
Five Important Questions About DEA’s Vehicle Surveillance Program
With each week, we seem to learn about a new government location tracking program. This time, it’s the expanded use of license plate readers. According to the Wall Street Journal, relying…
Charlie Hebdo, The Interview, and Censoring Torture Photos
In France and the United States, there seems to be near-universal agreement that to self-censor because of threats of violence is unwise and cowardly. The slogan “Je Suis Charlie,”…
The Torture Report, the CIA’s “Work of Fiction,” and a Friday-afternoon Letter From DOJ
In an earlier post, I called attention to the revelation in the Senate torture report that the CIA contemplated disclosing information about the torture program under cover of…
US Government Seeks to Deny Twitter’s “Warrant Canary” Challenge
On Friday, the Justice Department asked a federal district court to brush away a lawsuit filed in October by Twitter seeking greater freedom to publicly report on the numbers and…
A Precedent for Post-Strike Investigations for Civilian Casualties in War
In reflecting on 2014, I thought about an overlooked moment for issues of transparency and accountability in military operations. A heated debate in international law is whether…
Guest Post: Drone Courts–A Response to Professor Vladeck
Editors’ note: In this post, Professors Brand, Guiora, and Barela reply to Steve Vladeck’s December 2 post, “Drone Courts: The Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem,”…
Avoiding Unnecessary Wars and Preserving Accountability: Principles for an ISIL-Specific AUMF
Earlier today, a group of legal experts–including Rosa Brooks, Sarah Cleveland, Jen Daskal, Walter Dellinger, Harold Koh, and Marty Lederman–released a set of “Principles…