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
The “Leahy Law” Prohibiting US Assistance to Human Rights Abusers: Pulling Back the Curtain
With almost weekly news reports of US support for foreign governments with track records of gross human rights abuse—think torture in Yemen by Emirati security forces, violations…
Did the Supreme Court Tip Its Hand on How It Will Rule on the Travel Ban?
Today, the Supreme Court partially stayed and partially upheld the lower court injunctions in the travel ban litigation. The way in which the Court split the baby is perhaps the…
It’s All About that Stay (and Its Surprising Limits)
Preliminary thoughts (reserving the right to add more as the day goes on!): The Court nominally granted certiorari in the two “travel ban” cases today, but for reasons…
Not the Time for the Sounds of Silence
My father was on a death march through Yugoslavia when liberated by Tito’s partisans in November 1944. My mother was in a courtyard in Budapest waiting to be executed by a firing…
Tillerson’s “Peaceful” Regime Change for Iran: Really? And What Comes Next?
At this point in our internecine political discourse, it is increasingly rare for foreign policy stories to survive more than a single news cycle unless they involve Russia. …
Congress’s 2001 AUMF as Legal Basis for US Shootdown of Syrian Jet
It is not that much of a stretch to say that Congress’s 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) provides a legal basis for the U.S. shootdown of a Syrian jet,…
Hyping the Terrorist Threat: Trump Makes an Old Problem Worse
For the better part of two decades, American policymakers have struggled to explain the nature of the terrorist threat facing the United States. Mayors, governors, and members…
Cross-Border Access to Data: Google’s Senior VP Weighs In
This morning, Kent Walker, Senior Vice-President and General Counsel of Google, gave a speech to a packed audience at the Heritage Foundation, laying out the need for new laws…
Timeline of Escalation in Syria: U.S. vs. Iran, Russia, Syria and “Pro-Regime” Forces post January 20, 2017
April 4: Chemical attack A rocket laced with the nerve agent sarin kills more than 80 civilians in Khan Shaykhun in the rebel-held Idlib province. The attack is attributed to the…
Political Parties as Critical Infrastructure?
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson testified Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee as part of the House investigation into Russian interference in the…
Reported Emirati Abuse of Detainees and the Perils of U.S. Partnerships
[Editor’s note: for an analysis of the legal issues raised by this news, see Steve Vladeck’s post, “The Potential Legal Implications for the U.S. in the AP’s…
Donald Trump’s Say-So is Not a Presidential “National Security Judgment”
The government just filed its final pleading before the Justices’ consideration of the entry-ban cases tomorrow. This follows final briefs that the IRAP and Hawaii plaintiffs…