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.
4,713 Articles
What Rights Does International Law Afford Umm Sayyaf?
The legal machinations within the US government must have been considerable last month after an American special operations raid in Syria captured Umm Sayyaf, the wife of suspected…
Zivotofsky podcast
Jack Goldsmith and I break down the case, discussing many of the questions we’ve both been blogging about, here. * * * * My posts (and a podcast) on Zivotofsky:
Thoughts on Zivotofsky, Part Six: Why the majority’s surprising decision on executive exclusivity is unpersuasive
As I noted in my previous post, although it was unnecessary to the Court’s holding, the proposition that Zivotofsky will now stand for—in briefs, in articles, and in constitutional…
Thoughts on Zivotofsky, Part Five: Why did the majority choose to decide whether the President’s “recognition” power is exclusive?
“Congress may not enact a law that directly contradicts” the President’s “formal recognition determination.” That’s the constitutional proposition in Justice Kennedy’s…
The Law of War Manual is here (no, really)
The last time the U.S. Department of Defense published a comprehensive manual on the law of war was in 1956, when Richard Baxter set the standard. Much has happened since then–the…
What al Bahlul Says, and What It Means
It’s going to take some time to fully work through the lengthy opinions handed down by the D.C. Circuit this morning in al Bahlul v. United States. But at the risk of…
Closing Guantánamo Will Help Combat Terrorist Propaganda
It’s no secret that extremist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL use the American prison at Guantánamo Bay as a recruiting tool and rallying cry against the United States. The topic…
Thoughts on Zivotofsky, Part Four: Justice Thomas as constitutional iconoclast (or, “What was so terrible about King George III, anyway?”)
In my previous post, I described the principles of constitutional foreign affairs authority on which almost all of the Justices agreed in Zivotofsky. In the posts that follow,…
The Ridiculous GTMO Counsel-Stripping Amendment: An Easy Vote
[UPDATE: The Amendment failed by a vote of 133-297.] Steve has already described the likely constitutional problems with the latest Guantanamo amendment designed to strip funding…
Why the Latest Ridiculous Guantánamo Amendment is Almost Certainly Unconstitutional
Later today, the House of Representatives appears set to vote on the following amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill, sponsored by Missouri Congressman Jason…
Thoughts on Zivotofsky, Part Three: The broad consensus on presidential and congressional foreign affairs authorities
The Justices were, of course, closely and sharply divided on the ultimate resolution of Zivotofsky (on which more shortly). One of the most striking things about the decision,…
Thoughts on Zivotofsky, Part Two: Whither Article III standing?
Why did Menachem Zivotofsky have Article III standing to sue? Will Baude raised that question a few weeks ago in the New York Times. In recent years the Court has insisted…