The administration just issued a Statement of Administration Policy on a DHS appropriations bill (H.R. 2017), which contains a spending restriction similar to one of the Guantanamo transfer restrictions that provoked the administration’s recent veto threat with respect to the … Read more »
After a bit of a slow start, Lawfare’s Facebook page is picking up steam. Just under 300 people have “liked” Lawfare (you should too if you haven’t), and people are starting to leave comments on the site. Your “like” clicks … Read more »
DOD has just announced that charges have now been sworn by military commission prosecutors in the case against KSM and four others linked to the 9/11 attacks. From DOD’s press release:… Read more »
Last week I posted about the views of some in Congress who are upset that the government might not employ the military commission system to prosecute certain offenses committed in Iraq. I noted that there had been a prior case … Read more »
The Supreme Court has reversed the Ninth Circuit in al-Kidd v. Ashcroft, a Bivens action in which the plaintiff alleges (among other things) that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft violated the Fourth Amendment by directing prosecutors to use the material … Read more »
One further thought about the D.C. Circuit’s Al Madhwani opinion—along the same lines as I mentioned earlier. There are at least two other places in this brief (12 page) opinion in which the panel opinion, written by Judge … Read more »
I said on Friday that I would post some thoughts on the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Al Madhwani. Here is my first.
This is the second recent decision in which the D.C. Circuit has casually reiterated that is has … Read more »
Earlier today I noted a couple of scenarios in which the US government might want detention authority yet face obstacles in relying on the original AUMF should we have withdrawn in the interim from Afghanistan, as part of my ongoing … Read more »
For the record, the Buchanan Amendment is a bad idea, and I hope that it dies in conference. In addition to being constitutionally vulnerable in at least some applications (Milligan anyone?), and hamhanded in its effort to deny discretion to the executive branch to decide which … Read more »
Here are five quick thoughts about the legislative tussling over the AUMF and detention policy following yesterday’s House vote to pass the NDAA and its provisions on the subject.
First, if it was not clear before, it it is certainly … Read more »
The D.C. Circuit has just issued its opinion in Al Madhwani v. Obama—a Guantanamo habeas case. The case, which I previewed here and whose oral argument Larkin and I tag-team-covered here, is brief and breaks little new ground. … Read more »
Unbeknownst to me, the NDAA as passed by the House of Representatives yesterday contains new—and very bad—provision mandating military commission trials for terrorist suspects. Added on the floor through an amendment by Rep. Vern Buchanan, which passed on a 246-to-173 … Read more »
The debate regarding AUMF renewal via section 1034 of the NDAA FY12 is about much more than detention authority, but of course it does impact detention authority in various ways. As to that issue, Deborah Pearlstein frames the issue nicely … Read more »
As Raffaela notes below, the NDAA FY12 passed the House yesterday with the AUMF provision, section 1034, intact. The action now moves on the Senate, and beyond that we have the prospect of negotiations in conference and, of course, … Read more »
According to Der Spiegel Online, Germany is withholding intelligence from the United States out of concern over the legality of such cooperation in circumstances that might result in a drone strike killing a German citizen in Pakistan’s FATA:
The
