International Law
Just Security offers expert analysis of international law and its role in addressing global challenges. Our coverage includes litigation in international and regional tribunals, the process of international law-making, analysis of compliance and accountability for international law violations–including international criminal justice, and challenges to the international legal order.
3,496 Articles
Remembering Abu Ghraib (1): Torture Everywhere and the Accountability Gap
[This is the first of a two-part post on the tenth anniversary of the Abu Ghraib scandal. I’ve broken it in half for easier reading.] No exceptional circumstances whatsoever,…
Ukraine Before the ICC
The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor has opened a preliminary examination into the situation in Ukraine. As we earlier noted, Ukraine on April 17,…
Realpolitik and Closing Guantánamo: A Response to Deborah Pearlstein
A few weeks back, I posted about my new Fordham Law Review essay, “Detention After the AUMF,” which explains how the President could use existing authority–to…
Justice Breyer’s intriguing suggestions in Hussain: A sign of habeas challenges to come?
Last month I predicted that one or more Justices would issue a separate opinion when the Court denied certiorari in Hussain, and that the likely topic of such an opinion would…
How We Read a NYTimes Story on Drone Strikes in Yemen
In this post, we’re trying something new. Below, we present an almost line-by-line annotation of yesterday’s New York Times story on US and Yemeni military operations in…
Court Decision Supports Broader Disclosures on US Drone War
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision yesterday that the Obama administration had waived its right to refuse to turn over legal memos justifying the killing of a U.S.…
The Second Circuit and the Vices of Selective Disclosure
I’ve now had a full day to digest yesterday’s lengthy decision by the Second Circuit in New York Times v. Department of Justice, which, among other things, orders…
Judge Pohl’s order requiring disclosure of details of CIA’s “black sites” now unclassified
As I mentioned last week, in the al Nashiri military commission case, Judge Pohl has issued an order requiring that the prosecution turn over to the defense team the details —…
Consequences of the Fact-Based Armed Conflict Test in Yemen’s Internal Armed Conflict
Ryan’s recent post about ongoing “drone strikes” in Yemen raises an issue that has troubled me for quite some time from a legal, policy, and advocacy perspective. In the…
Letter to the Editor from Gabor Rona, On Justice Breyer’s Concurrence in Hussain
If Justice Breyer’s statement is a sign that the Supreme Court may now be willing to wrest its “war on terror” role back from the DC Circuit, it may be due…
Second Circuit Orders Release of Redacted OLC Aulaqi Memo
A big morning for courts and national security… next up is this immensely significant decision from the Second Circuit in New York Times v. Department of Justice, which,…
Justice Breyer’s Concurrence in Hussain
As Marty predicted back in March, the Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari this morning in the latest Guantánamo case to reach the Court–Hussain v. Obama–came…