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
Just a few days ago, the counsel for military commission defendant Abd al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al Nashiri filed a motion for a continuance, requesting that the four days of hearings slated for next week be delayed. The prosecution opposed … Read more »
Jess Bravin of the Wall Street Journal, the author of the recent book, The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay, has posted the following statement on the Facebook page associated with his new book (I have taken … Read more »
Romance is in the air—and waves of the purest judicial authority—as Judge Pohl calls our session to order. The five men accused of planning 9/11 are present in the courtroom, along with lawyers for defense and prosecution alike. Ditto representatives … Read more »
The Smallwood Screen comes alive, with Judge James Pohl seated at the familiar, authority-emanating bench. A glow likewise surrounds the wall’s JTF insignia; it seems to say, “let us reconvene and discuss attorney-client communications.” So we do, at 9:02 a.m. … Read more »
From the statement’s discussion of Monday’s break in CCTV audio and video, during remarks by KSM attorney David Nevin:
As in courts-martial, members of the Office of Military Commissions staff—separate from the prosecution—support the administrative functions of
As Wells noted, the Guantánamo Military Commission Convening Authority has declined to adopt Chief Prosecutor Brig. Gen. Mark Martins’s recommendation to withdraw the conspiracy charges against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 defendants. Withdrawal, which can be done … Read more »
…is available here. In a nutshell:
Hamdan II requires reversal of Bahlul’s convictions by military commission of providing material support for terrorism, conspiracy to commit war crimes, and solicitation to commit war crimes. Because the Court is bound by
On Thursday, lawyers for Abd Al Rahim Hussein Al-Nashiri filed their reply brief in Al-Nashiri v. MacDonald, a civil case now pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Al-Nashiri, a defendant before the Guantanamo … Read more »
In his response to Andrea Prasow, Ben suggests that, in continuing to object to military commissions that have been blessed by two Congresses and both the Bush and Obama Administrations, “Human Rights Watch sound[s] a bit like conservatives will … Read more »
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit filed a per curiam order in the case of Bahlul v. United States, ordering the parties to file briefs addressing the implications of the court’s decision in … Read more »
The D.C. Circuit Court’s opinion that we’ve all been waiting for has come down. The D.C. Circuit has vacated Hamdan’s conviction for material support for terrorism in the Military Commission and reversed the Court of Military Commission Review’s judgment. The … Read more »
I will offer my own thoughts on the death of Adnan Latif later on, but several people have sent me comments on the subject that I am going to post first. Rather than do this in a string posts, I’m … Read more »
I have largely suspended my campaign of fact-checking New York Times editorials, but this one is too good to pass up. In his opinion the other day on counsel access issues at Guantanamo, Judge Royce Lamberth—as Wells noted—made … Read more »
Just noticed this: It seems that the Open Society Foundations has brought suit in the European Court of Human Rights against at least two Eastern European countries on behalf of suspected USS Cole bomber, Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammad Al Nashiri. … Read more »
The government has filed its opposition brief in United States v. Kiriakou – the unauthorized disclosures and false statements case against a former CIA officer, who helped to apprehend Abu Zubaydah and later publicly bashed the government for torturing terrorism … Read more »
Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman Al Bahlul has filed his reply brief in his appeal of his military commission conviction in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. You’ll recall that Al Bahul requested his appeal to … Read more »
For D.C.-area readers, I’ll be participating in what should be a lively discussion of the current and future legal and policy issues surrounding military commissions (I suspect it will be that much livelier if Hamdan comes down in the … Read more »
Kind of interesting that military commission defense lawyers insist that the defendants should be able to wear the clothes of their choice but that female prosecutors should cover up.
Ben Weiser of the New York Times wrote in today, and reminded me that the 9/11 case is obviously not first to confront the issue of secretly-recorded conversations between the defendant and other Guantanamo detainees.
The question came up in … Read more »
According to the Miami Herald’s Carol Rosenberg, only three of the 9/11 defendants weighed in on the question, put to the prosecution by Judge James Pohl, of why the men should not be tried separately.
Rosenberg reports that only … Read more »
So reports Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald: Judge Pohl has set another hearing in United States v. Mohammed et al for September 8-12 – a date range that, obviously, includes the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
That’s two hearings … Read more »
That’s the word from a member of the defense team, James Connell. His statement provides as follows:
This afternoon, the Guantanamo Bay military commission entered an order (AE035C) continuing the hearing scheduled for June 12-15 until August 8-12, 2012. Two
The latest statement from the defense in United States v. Mohammed et al:
The prosecution in the 9/11 Guantanamo Bay case is seeking a gag order barring media or military commissions observers from reporting information about military officers the Pentagon
Something to mull, while Judge Pohl ponders severance in the 9/11 case: whether the government’s evidence in the still-far-off-in-the-future military commission trial (or trials) also could be admitted in a federal courtroom.
In the commissions, some evidence can theoretically be … Read more »
We reported last Friday on an order in United States v. Mohammed et al, in which Judge James Pohl instructed the prosecution to explain why the cases should not be tried separately. That order has completed a security review, and … Read more »
So asks Judge James Pohl, in an order he reportedly issued yesterday in United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et al. A statement from James Connell, a lawyer for 9/11 defendant Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, describes the order in … Read more »
It’s nearly 5:00 pm when the court reconvenes, and everyone is exhausted. The day has been long and contentious, and we are not even 40 percent of the way through the questioning of the judge. Fortunately, the remaining defense lawyers … Read more »
A gentle reminder – not that you really needed one, being a devoted Lawfare reader and all - Ben and I will be live-blogging tomorrow’s much-anticipated arraignment in United States v. KSM et al. According to the military commissions’ … Read more »
Below is a recap of yesterday’s oral argument before the D.C. Circuit in Hamdan v. United States. As for key takeaways, you’ll find Steve’s breakdown here, and my two cents’ worth here.
Again, it is anyone’s guess how … Read more »
We’ll have a full recap of today’s oral argument in Hamdan v. United States up shortly. In the meantime, here’s one observation – which I reckon Steve will supplement with some remarks of his own.
Suffice it to say that … Read more »
Tomorrow morning, a panel of three judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Chief Judge Sentelle along with Circuit Judges Ginsburg and Kavanaugh) will hear argument in the case of Salim Hamdan v. … Read more »
I have a longer preview of Thursday’s D.C. Circuit argument in Hamdan in the works, but wanted to jump in to offer a couple of quick thoughts on the (surprising) argument order issued by the panel today (which Raff … Read more »
A few weeks back we noted that Ali Hamza Ahmad al Bahlul filed his petitioner brief in the D.C. Circuit Court in his appeal from the military commission’s judgment and sentence against him. Now comes his petition for the D.C. … Read more »
Defense counsel for the five alleged 9/11 co-conspirators have filed several motions challenging the closed-door nature of some military commission proceedings.
Although the filings haven’t been released (they need to be reviewed and redacted first), the defense attorneys released two … Read more »
After yesterdays motions hearing, Chief Prosecutor Mark Martins issued the following comments:
Chief Prosecutor Mark Martins
Remarks at Guantanamo Bay on 12 April 2012
Good afternoon. Today, the military commission convened to try the charges referred to it against Abd
You probably have been saying to yourself, all morning and afternoon, “when will we ever hear argument on motion AE40, the defense’s request to compel funding for a Yemeni defense investigator?” Your wait is over.
Judge Pohl’s prior ruling visibly … Read more »
Lunch ends, and we return to argue over AE 038 – or, as better known to docket-watchers, the defense’s motion to compel the timely translation of discovery into Arabic. Reyes begins by informing the court that as of January, the … Read more »
Continuing with his discovery blitz, Judge Pohl turns next to AE 044, a defense motion to compel the production of unredacted classified discovery.
Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Reyes argues for the defense that the defense has received thousands of pages of … Read more »
Judge Pohl calls the commission back to order at 11:00 am to discuss AE 054 and AE 057–two motions to compel discovery from potential witnesses in Yemen and the U.A.E.
At the in-chambers conference, Judge Pohl explains, the parties discussed … Read more »
The court next turns to the issue, which it heard a couple of months ago, of whether it has the authority to hear a defense motion to reconsider any decision to accept Rule 505 evidence substitutions. The statute is … Read more »
The hearing begins again at 9:18. Judge Pohl enters and announces that he has held a meeting in chambers with counsel to discuss letters rogatory, which he will discuss on the record later. The other issue they discussed, he says, … Read more »
Brig. General Mark Martins released the following statement after today’s hearings:
Chief Prosecutor Mark Martins
Remarks at Guantanamo Bay on 11 April 2012
Good afternoon. Today, the military commission convened to try the charges referred to it against Abd Al-Rahim
The day’s final issue is a logistical one. In its motion AE56, the Government asks to take some depositions in Yemen. Judge Pohl has some hesitation here, and says as much. He nevertheless asks for clarity, as he has not … Read more »
Break’s over, y’all. It’s Bill of Attainder time at Guantanamo.
Paradis begins this longest of long-shot motions by identifying his legal view of the federal ban on bills of attainder. The ban’s essence, he says, is that it is not … Read more »
Next up are AE 49 and AE 51–the defense’s two broadsides against the charge of terrorism as a war crime. Paradis says that this offense, like conspiracy, lies beyond the jurisdiction of the commission and presents the same brand of … Read more »
Well, the prosecution and defense don’t agree about much–but they both love Lawfare.
Judge Pohl turns next to defense motion AE 048, which argues that conspiracy is not a valid charge before a commission, as it is not a … Read more »
The commission convenes against at 2:10 pm for a surprise extra argument.
Judge Pohl begins by saying that if either party wants to put on the record material from the in-chambers meeting yesterday, they should speak up.
Unsurpringingly, one of … Read more »
Monday, May 20, 2013
As Jack posted yesterday—and as everyone is buzzing about—President Obama will give a major counterterrorism speech on Thursday at the National Defense University. The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Politico all report on the talk, and subjects that the President will likely address.
Speaking of Jack, he noted another of today’s big stories: the Washington Post’s piece on the FBI’s search, a few years… Read more »
