Federal Courts
190 Articles
The Three Legal Questions Left Unresolved by al-Libi’s Death
Just 10 days before his trial on terrorism charges was set to begin in Manhattan federal court, accused al Qaeda operative Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruquai, from Libya, better known…
Guest Post: Drone Courts–A Response to Professor Vladeck
Editors’ note: In this post, Professors Brand, Guiora, and Barela reply to Steve Vladeck’s December 2 post, “Drone Courts: The Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem,”…
Abu Ghaith Sentence Confirms We Don’t Need Guantanamo
On Tuesday morning, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, was sentenced to life in a U.S. federal prison. The former al Qaeda spokesman was arrested in Jordan by…
The Posse Comitatus Act, Unlawful Surveillance, and the Exclusionary Rule
Most students of U.S. national security law are familiar with the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) — an 1878 statute that subjects to criminal punishment anyone who, “except…
Rosenberg vs. Pasha: Distinguishing Two Questions of Foreign Official Immunity
Last week, I responded to my friend John Bellinger’s comments about the district court’s ruling on foreign official immunity in the Singh case. John has a new post at Lawfare…
Court Rules Against Microsoft: Questions of Data, Territoriality, and the Government’s Search Authority Headed to the 2nd Circuit
I blogged previously about the really interesting dispute between Microsoft and the government regarding the territorial reach of the warrant authority under ECPA. As you may recall,…
More on Military Courts and Article III
A little over a month ago, I posted about my forthcoming article, “Military Courts and Article III,” a copy of which is now available via SSRN. For folks who prefer…
Military Courts and Article III
For some time, I’ve been working on the larger implications of the jurisprudence arising from the Guantánamo military commissions and the Court of Appeals for the Armed…
The Charles Taylor Appeal & The Scope of Accomplice Liability
I earlier flagged the release of the Charles Taylor appeals judgment. This post deconstructs the opinion more closely in light of the Perišić precedent and also addresses the…
Charles Taylor Verdict Today: New Standard of Liability for Aid to Rebel Forces?
The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) today unanimously upheld the conviction and 50-year sentence of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for aiding…