With his usual zeal, my friend Steve Vladeck energetically defends his support for the D.C. Circuit court’s decision mandating Judge Scott Silliman’s recusal in the military commission case involving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) against my critique of that decision (which I outlined in an essay titled, “Is it in the nation’s best interests for the courts to chill the protected speech of law professors?”)

What Steve’s response doesn’t counter is the simple fact that the prohibitions the D.C.…   continue »

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The military commission proceeding against five detainees allegedly responsible for the September 11^th terrorist attacks is slowly inching closer to a trial date at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. On trial will be: Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.…   continue »

This week’s episode certainly has a military theme.  Professors Chesney and Vladeck start off with a surprisingly (or is it disturbingly?) lengthy discussion of the writ of mandamus litigation currently pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in connection with military commission proceedings.  …   continue »

The latest Guantánamo military commission case to make headlines—the new charges against Encep Nurjamen (a.k.a. Hambali)—is shrouded in an unusual amount of secrecy. But when that veil is lifted, it reveals a charge sheet containing a legal flaw significant enough for the Pentagon’s newly appointed senior official in charge of such matters—Convening Authority Harvey Rishikof—to demand a do-over.…   continue »

Given the importance of tonight’s prime-time debate between US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we’re again running our list of vital national security questions we want to see both candidates answer. The list below was originally compiled by a group of Just Security’s editors and contributors ahead the Commander-in-Chief Forum that took place earlier this month.…   continue »

The DC Circuit’s recent ruling in In re Al-Nashiri missed an opportunity to clarify an important question in the current US military commissions: when did the armed conflict against al Qaeda start. The defendant, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, had brought a pre-trial challenge to his prosecution for his alleged role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.…   continue »

According to a provocative new amicus brief filed by the Hoover Institution’s Adam White and UVA Law Professor Aditya Bamzai in opposition to certiorari in Akbar v. United States, a case challenging the constitutionality of the military death penalty (about which I blogged at length in May), the answer is yes.…   continue »

After a very long delay, and a couple of new presidential appointments of military judges to the court (resolving one of the two serious structural problems Steve has described elsewhere), the Court of Military Commission Review has finally issued its decision in the government’s interlocutory appeal on the MV Limburg aspect of the case against Abd al-Rahim Hussain al-Nashiri.…   continue »

Anyone who’s been following the military commission prosecution of the five alleged 9/11 plotters at Guantánamo Bay is likely familiar with some of the absurd happenings in the case. From the discoveries that attorney-client meeting rooms were wired for surveillance, that microphones in the courtroom could capture and record supposedly confidential attorney-client conversations, that the government could search defense counsel’s computers, and that the FBI was actually investigating at least one of the five legal defense teams while the prosecution ensued, the case has felt a bit like a three-ring circus to those of us watching.…   continue »

As one of those who spends parts of his Tuesday and Friday mornings trolling PACER for new D.C. Circuit rulings (which appear there before they’re posted on the Court of Appeals’ public website), two of the decisions for which I’m especially keeping an eye out are the en banc D.C.…   continue »