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.
4,603 Articles
Power Wars Symposium: Further on the law of the bin Laden operation, Part I
Editor’s Note: This is the second entry in a symposium Just Security is hosting in conjunction with this week’s release of Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency by…
Congress: Troops to Syria Means It’s Time (Finally) to Act
News that the United States has sent its first — albeit “fewer than 50” — troops to fight ISIS in Syria highlights once again the need for a new authorization to use military…
A False Choice on Guantánamo Closure
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
Power Wars Symposium: The Savage Effect
Editor’s Note: This is the first entry in a symposium Just Security is hosting in conjunction with this week’s release of Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency by…
A Quick Update: Apple, Privacy, and the All Writs Act of 1789
Here’s the latest in the encryption case we’ve been writing about in which the Justice Department is asking Magistrate Judge James Orenstein to order Apple to unlock a criminal…
Orin Kerr’s Unconvincing Defense of Yesterday’s Second Circuit (Non-)Ruling
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, my friend Orin Kerr has a thoughtful post up about yesterday’s Second Circuit decision in ACLU v. Clapper, which refused to enjoin the…
Section 215 and “Fruitless” (?!?) Constitutional Adjudication
This morning, the Second Circuit issued a follow-on ruling to its May decision in ACLU v. Clapper (which had held that the NSA’s bulk telephone records program was unlawful…
Human Shields in the DOD Manual: A New Mistake or an Old One?
Since the Defense Department published its new Law of War Manual, major media outlets have scrutinized its treatment of journalists while ignoring its treatment of ordinary civilians.…
Video: Obama’s Drone Legacy, A Conversation With Scott Shane
What will be the legacy of President Obama’s drone program? How will the next president use armed drones and targeted killings? What was the political and legal significance…
Honor, Morality, and the DOD Law of War Manual
As faithful readers of Just Security’s “mini forum” on the new DOD Law of War Manual may recall, Prof. Adil Haque and I sparred last summer over several of the manual’s…
Kunduz Update
The Afghan government is doubling down on its strong insinuations that a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital that US and Afghan forces bombed in Kunduz on October 3 was a legitimate…
After the NDAA Veto: Now What?
This time, he’s serious. After all these years of unexecuted veto threats, on October 22, 2015, President Obama finally vetoed the $612 billion National Defense and Authorization…