Executive Branch
Just Security’s expert authors provide analysis of the U.S. executive branch related to national security, rights, and the rule of law. Analysis and informational resources focus on the executive branch’s powers and their limits, and the actions of the president, administrative agencies, and federal officials.
4,605 Articles
Trump Admin’s Distorted Data Doesn’t Prove Its Cruel Border Policy Deters Migration
The Trump administration's data on border security doesn’t prove the cause and effect of its "zero-tolerance" policy that DHS is touting.
The Real-Life Consequences of the (Now Lawful) Travel Ban
This is how the third version of Trump’s travel ban, the one that the Supreme Court says is lawful, affects one person. One American. One family. As an immigration lawyer,…
Trump’s Militia Pardon is Another Blow to Federal Law Enforcement
News that Trump has pardoned two cattle ranchers who committed arson on public lands should alarm anyone who is committed to our legal institutions.
Mueller Lacks Authority to Indict Trump
Whatever one’s views on the ultimate questions of whether a sitting president may constitutionally be indicted and for what offenses, they are as a practical (and legal) matter…
Turkey, NATO’s Odd Man Out?
Ambassador James F. Jeffrey writes that "a second controversy bubbles just under NATO's surface: the degree to which an organization that sees itself as a values-driven collective…
Overdue US Admission that Civilians Were Killed in Syria Strike Is Still Insufficient
It finally admitted to it. After months of denying that any civilians died, the United States-led coalition in Syria has finally recognized that its strike on a boarding school…
Studies: Mass Detention of Migrant Families is Unnecessary, Inefficient
The administration’s turn toward mass detention of asylum seekers and migrants flies in the face of numerous empirical studies, including the government’s own statistics, that…
The Travel Ban: Part of a Broad National Security Exceptionalism in U.S. Law
As various scholars have noted, the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Hawaii decision last week to uphold a law that many experts call “the Muslim Ban” is shocking in its analysis.…
Contrary to Popular Belief, the Court Did Not Hold that the Travel Ban is Lawful—Anything But
"Don’t believe the hype. In fact, not a single Justice on the Court decided—or even suggested—that the Proclamation’s exclusion of entry of nationals from five Muslim-majority…
Global Responses to President Trump’s Family Separation via “Zero-Tolerance” Detention Policy
Children in cages. Children under five crying alone. Anguished parents. As these images have assaulted Americans’ sensibilities in recent weeks, they have also brought international…
Just Security Podcast: Harold Koh and Cristina Rodríguez on the Travel Ban
As most of us know, the Supreme Court this week upheld the Trump administration’s travel ban that bars citizens from seven countries, of which, five have a Muslim majority…
Child Separation in the Courts
The legal battle over family separations at the border is far from over.