Recent 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…
National Security-Related Congressional Hearings, June 15–19
Below is a calendar of Congressional hearings on national security matters for this week. Monday, June 15, 2015 5:00pm – Senate Foreign Relations – Lifting Sanctions on Iran:…
News Roundup and Notes: June 15, 2015
Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news. LIBYA STRIKE The U.S. launched…
Thoughts on Zivotofsky, Part Seven: “Curtiss-Wright–out of sight,” and the fate of the argument for an exclusive executive diplomatic authority
At the oral argument in Zivotofsky, Justice Kagan asked plaintiff’s counsel whether it would be constitutional for Congress to enact a law requiring the Secretary of State to…
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…
Recap of Recent Posts at Just Security (June 6–12)
I. Guantanamo and Detention Steve Vladeck, Three Problems With Judge Brown’s Opinion in Tuaua (Sunday, June 7) Daphne Eviatar, The Senate’s Guantánamo Bill: A Wolf in…
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…
al-Bahlul decided: Court invalidates military commission conviction for domestic-law offense
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by a 2-1 vote (Rogers and Tatel, Henderson dissenting) has overturned the conspiracy conviction on Article III grounds.…
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…