Military Commissions
144 Articles
Course Correction Still Needed on Anti-Torture Obligations
The prohibition on torture is absolute. The government’s commitment to upholding it must be too.
How the Biden Administration Should Take Torture-Derived Evidence Off the Table
In a decent legal system, the government does not ask courts to admit evidence derived from torture, nor does it press other arguments that disregard the absolute prohibition on…
Torture Evidence and the Guantanamo Military Commissions
Burying evidence of torture, while surreptitiously admitting the fruits of torture is not what a decent legal system does. Bringing to justice those accused of atrocious crimes…
Upcoming Cases Provide Opportunities to Reassess the Application of the Due Process Clause at Guantanamo
Recognizing the Due Process Clause’s application at Guantanamo will help refocus litigation on the question of whether the remaining detainees pose such a significant threat…
How to Fix the U.S. Litigation Position in Key Pending Cases
The Biden administration has the opportunity, and responsibility, to disavow the Trump administration’s dangerous litigation positions and the ideologies they reflect in these…
On Guantanamo’s 19th Anniversary, A Renewed Call to Close It
Nineteen years ago today, the administration of President George W. Bush sent the first detainees to the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center for the purpose of detaining them beyond…
A Commander’s Duty to Punish War Crimes: Past U.S. Recognition
A comprehensive, sweeping analysis of "the United States’ own long-standing views that a commander’s failure to punish war crimes by his subordinates may itself amount to war…
A Path for Renewing Guantanamo Closure
Although closing the 20-year-old detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO) may not be a marquee issue among the many significant challenges Joe Biden will face as president…
Toward a New Approach to National and Human Security: Close Guantanamo and End Indefinite Detention
Closing Guantanamo responsibly is not an intractable problem, the checkered history of prior efforts notwithstanding. It can be done, and in relatively short order, if decision-making…
The D.C. Circuit, Conspiracy, and the Guantanamo Military Commissions: Third Time’s the Charm?
Eleven years since Congress authorized the third generation of post-9/11 Guantanamo military commissions, the substantive law governing them remains in doubt. The case of Bahlul…
Getting It Wrong: The 9/11 Military Commission and the Justiciability of Armed Conflict
In an apparent effort to preserve its own jurisdiction while proceeding towards trial, the 9/11 military commission has made a hash of its armed conflict jurisprudence. It has…
9/11 Case: Military Commission Convening Authority to Be Called as a Witness as to His Own Bias
W. Shane Cohen, the current judge presiding over the 9/11 case at Guantánamo Bay, has ordered the compulsion of testimony from the Office of Military Commissions’ convening…