Ben quotes from this morning’s Washington Post editorial on AUMF reform, the last two sentences of which assert that “Countering the jihadists with intelligence and law enforcement tools manifestly failed before Sept. 11, 2001. Congress would be wise to … Read more »
For those who’d prefer the shorter version of Jen Daskal and my draft paper on life “After the AUMF,” we’ve got a short op-ed out in today’s New York Times with a far less alliterative title: “Don’t … Read more »
Lawyers for Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, a Yemeni detained at Guantanamo, yesterday petitioned the D.C. Circuit for a writ of mandamus. The gist: Abdullah wants the circuit court to force the district court decide a long-pending motion of his.… Read more »
In advance of Thursday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), Jen Daskal and I have expanded upon our exchanges with Bobby, Jack, Matt, and Ben in a new (draft) working … Read more »
As Andrew Rosenthal noted in yesterday’s New York Times, things seem to be heating up in Congress with respect to whether–and to what extent–the September 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) needs to be updated, repealed, and/or … Read more »
Earlier today, former State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh gave a talk at the Oxford Union, entitled “How to End the Forever War?” His remarks begin as follows:
Thank you, Mr. President and Members of the Union, for inviting me
We’ve written a fair amount already about Chief Judge Lamberth’s September 2012 decision regarding the Guantánamo detainees’ continuing right of access to counsel (not to mention his March 2013 decision criticizing the government for its foot-dragging in declassifying various filings … Read more »
In March, Obaydullah, a Guantanamo detainee, signed this declaration. It evidently was intended for filing in federal court—in connection with the Al-Madhwani emergency motion—but ultimately wasn’t filed, for timing reasons.
The document was made available this week, and … Read more »
What is happening in Mali to people who are captured rather than killed by French, Chadian, or Malian forces? I asked this in February, but so far as I know the question remains unanswered in the public record.
Part of … Read more »
I confess myself mystified by President Obama’s comments about Guantanamo this morning. Here is what the President said—with the parts I find confusing bolded:
QUESTION: Mr. President, as you’re probably aware, there’s a growing hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay
Earlier this morning, President Obama conducted a news conference. The questions touched on, among other things, the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and the detainees’ ongoing hunger strike there.
The President strongly reiterated his desire to shutter … Read more »
So we learn from this order, handed down yesterday, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
In a letter filed after the Hedges oral argument, attorneys for the government had cited the Supreme Court’s Clapper … Read more »
That’s the gist of this report, filed earlier today by Politico’s Josh Gerstein:
A federal judge declined Monday to take action on behalf of a hunger-striking prisoner at Guantanamo Bay whose attorneys say his life is in danger
Yesterday, pursuant to Judge Thomas Hogan’s recent order, lawyers for habeas petitioner Musa’ab Omar al-Madhwani filed a brief addressing the district court’s jurisdiction to hear al-Madhwani’s emergency challenge to the conditions of his confinement at Guantanamo.
The detainee—who is … Read more »
Earlier today, in Anam et. al. v. Obama, the district court sought further briefing on its power to hear a GTMO detainee’s complaints of mistreatment by detention personnel.
Background: an April 15 hearing had been set on hunger striker … Read more »
Peter Margulies recently discussed the effect of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA denying standing to plaintiffs challenging the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program on the ongoing litigation in Hedges v. Obama. (Steve made a … Read more »
See this letter from Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Lietzau, on behalf of Secretary Hagel…
At bottom, it seems increasingly clear that there are two very different accounts out there about what’s happening on the ground at Guantánamo–that provided by … Read more »
Last Monday, I flagged Chief Judge Lamberth’s important new decision in a Guantánamo habeas case–Barre v. Obama–in which, among other things, he excoriated the government for how long it has taken them to release declassified (and therefore public) … Read more »
Philip Carter and Deborah Pearlstein have posted a thoughtful essay at Foreign Policy that emphasizes the utility of civilian criminal prosecution as a counterterrorism option. I very much agree with their positive take on DOJ’s track record, and I agree … Read more »
Ben has already noted that the United States and Afghahnistan struck a deal to resume the process of handing over the remnants of U.S. detention operations in Afghanistan–a process that hit a rough patch recently when it began to appear … Read more »
Even for those keeping up with the Guantánamo litigation, this decision by Chief Judge Lamberth, a declassified version of which was released on Friday, may have slipped under the radar. The specific issue in Barre v. Obama is yet another … Read more »
While we appreciate Ben’s answer to our question (and share his view that we’re reaching the point of the conversation where everything has been said and everyone has said it), we still fail to understand how the Libya example illuminates … Read more »
Ben writes that it is the “political reality” that “any president is going to feel obliged to maintain counterterrorism on offense,” i.e., counterterrorism through military means, “and Congress—whining, carping, complaining all the way both that the president is being … Read more »
It’s quickly becoming apparent that we and Jack appear to be talking past each other on the merits of the Chesney/Goldsmith/Waxman/Wittes (CGWW) proposal for a new framework statute for “extra-AUMF threats.” In Jack’s final response, for example, he frames … Read more »
We appreciate Jack’s quick and comprehensive clarification of his views—and of what the CGWW proposal we critiqued last night seeks to achieve. Like Jack, we want to start by emphasizing the many areas of agreement between us and CGWW … Read more »
In the very first days after the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration asked Congress for broad statutory authorization to use military force to “deter and pre-empt any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United … Read more »
Wednesday on the Senate floor, three senators spoke about the Obama administration’s decision to prosecute, in a federal court, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and Al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. Republican Senators Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham unsurprisingly opposed this … Read more »
The more I reflect on last week’s drone contretemps–and what effect the efforts of Senator Paul and his followers has had / may still have on U.S. policy–the more I have a profound and distressing sense of déjà vu. After … Read more »
I’ve posted many times on the gradual but inexorable process through which the United States is closing out its detention operations in Afghanistan, including this recent update. It has been a bumpy road, and after President Karzai recently suggested that … Read more »
Further to my last post on the capture and prosecution of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, I now want to share a few thoughts on the prosecution side of things.
The indictment has been unsealed, and is now available here. It … Read more »
As Ritika notes below, the United States has captured a senior al Qaeda figure (Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who was the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden), and will be bringing him to the United States for prosecution in civilian court. One … Read more »
One of the more interesting structural constitutional questions to emerge from the post-9/11 detention litigation has been the previously under-explored relationship between the Constitution’s Suspension and Due Process Clauses–and the extent to which they might do separate work with regard … Read more »
Via the Center for Constitutional Rights comes news of this alarming development–”that most of the men at Guantánamo have been on hunger strike for more than three weeks,” apparently in response to a series of incidents in which camp … Read more »
Amidst all the hubbub earlier this week, we neglected to note the filing of a new cert. petition in a Guantánamo habeas case–in Obaydullah v. Obama, filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Our coverage of the D.C. Circuit’s … Read more »
In other habeas news, detainee Obaydullah has noted his appeal to the D.C. Circuit.
Obaydullah had filed a motion for relief from judgment. In it, he cited newly discovered evidence that—in his view—established his innocence. But, as Alan explained in … Read more »
Remember the Guantanamo detention case of Hentif v. Obama?
In 2011, the government convinced the district court to reject Fadhel Hussein Saleh Hentif’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In July of 2012, the district judge noted, on … Read more »
Several years ago, in a prescient op-ed in the Washington Post, our colleague John Bellinger argued that the September 2001 AUMF was an increasingly poor fit for the evolving threats facing the United States. It is a theme to which … Read more »
I have posted previously about a criminal investigation in Poland targeting the former head of Poland’s intelligence service, based on his alleged cooperation in establishing a CIA black site on Polish territory. It appears now that charges will be dropped… Read more »
That’s the gist of this order, issued today by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit, in Rimi v. Obama.
The detainee, who had been transferred from Guantanamo to Libya in 2006, unsuccessfully sought habeas relief from the … Read more »
The meeting between Presidents Obama and Karzai today appears to have produced an agreement that will revive the process of shutting down U.S. detention operations in Afghanistan. As reported in the Wall Street Journal:
With Mr. Obama at his side,
So begins this interesting opinion from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in a habeas case brought by Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Morafa:
On a petition for a writ for habeas corpus filed by a detainee at
From the Hedges files: attorneys for Senators McCain, Ayotte, and Graham yesterday submitted this reply brief in support of their motion to participate in oral argument before the Second Circuit. (The Hedges plaintiffs had opposed amici’s request to take part.)… Read more »
As Ben noted the other day, the Obama administration issued a signing statement on the new NDAA arguing that its Guantánamo detainee-transfer restrictions are unconstitutional as a violation of the separation of powers. The language is similar to last year’s … Read more »
Last night, former DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson was on the Rachel Maddow Show, discussing the war on terror, detention, and how the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, proceeded. Warning: the clip includes Maddow’s 8 minute introduction to the … Read more »
Andrew Kent (Fordham University School of Law) has posted a new paper to SSRN, “Judicial Review for Enemy Fighters: The Court’s Fateful Turn in Ex Parte Quirin, the Nazi Saboteur Case.” (66 Vanderbilt Law Review 101 (2013).) Professor Kent will … Read more »
Told you so. President Obama has signed this year’s NDAA–along with a meek kind of signing (whining?) statement. Here is the statement’s discussion of the detention-related provisions–an account of which can be found in my previous post:
Several
Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte—who jointly filed an amicus brief in the Hedges appeal—are asking for argument time in the coming Second Circuit oral argument. They argue:
Senate Amici played a leadership role in the drafting
So what exactly is in the NDAA conference report that is prompting the agitation for a presidential veto? Here is a quick and dirty summary of “Subtitle D—Counterterrorism”—along with an explanation of why President Obama ought to veto the bill … Read more »
Another noteworthy development in the conference version of the NDAA is section 1025. Think of this as a new direction in the congressionalization of detention operations in Afghanistan.
What do I mean by congressionalization? I admit I just made that … Read more »
Politico reports that Senate and House negotiators have reached an agreement on the NDAA, with votes in both houses expected later this week…and then, on to the White House. The full text is available here. As for the highlights, … Read more »
Friday, May 17, 2013
The Department of Justice’s Inspector General released an interim report on the Department’s handling of “known or suspected” terrorists who have entered the government’s witness protection program. The report found, among other things, that information on some program participants had not been turned over to no-fly list authorities; and, that two such people could not be located—though one… Read more »
