Democracy & Rule of Law
Rule of Law
1,044 Articles

Military Officers’ Handwritten Clemency Letter at Guantanamo – What It Says About Who We Are
"A long step toward the ultimate freedom: the realization that there is no them, there is only us."

The Missing Kabul Drone Strike Report
"It is simply not credible that the entire investigative report must be withheld in order to protect (as one imagines the claim) sources and methods of intelligence-gathering."

A Torture Survivor Speaks at the Guantanamo Military Commissions
Majid Khan described his torture by the United States for the first time in a case that also shows how plea agreements are the only realistic path for those charged in Guantanamo…

US Leadership Matters to Avoid New Violence in the Balkans
It's time for Washington to recognize the role of Serb nationalism in fomenting renewed tensions across the region.

20 Years After the Patriot Act, America Must End Secret Law
Of the many abuses that sprung from the Patriot Act’s toxic soil, the most pernicious and enduring is the growth of secret laws. The insistence that the government must not only…

Judicial Secrecy: How To Fix the Over-sealing of Federal Court Records
The lack of uniform procedures for sealing federal court records has resulted in excessive secrecy that has caused considerable harm.

How American Kleptocracy Works
Review: Casey Michel's book, “American Kleptocracy,” tells the tale of US financial secrecy via two of the world’s great kleptocrats.

Appetite for Obstruction: How Autocrats Subvert Democracy’s Infrastructure
Russia's block on a recent human rights meeting is part of a pattern of authoritarian powers rending the fabric of rules-based institutions.

New Data Highlight Growing Worldwide Rule of Law Crisis
The 2021 WJP Rule of Law Index shows a global rule of law recession, including a deepening of the rule of law crisis in the United States.

Filmmaker: Ex-US Envoy’s Words Tell the Story of Our Lives in Haiti
Raoul Peck on Daniel Foote's call for the US to reset its policy and listen to the voices of Haitians trying to rebuild democracy.

Toward a Treaty on Crimes Against Humanity: A View from the Philippines and a Region of ‘Non-Interference’
Such a convention could help dispel a culture of impunity by reaffirming the gravity of such atrocities and filling gaps left by the Rome Statute.

Closing Pandora’s Box
Congress and the Treasury Department must curb law firms, financial advisors, and others implicated in the Pandora Papers secrecy gambits.