The Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC hosted an excellent discussion yesterday on targeted killing in which “[p]anelists evaluated issues like the current frameworks regarding the use of drones, the ramifications of a ‘drone court,’ the targeting of U.S. citizens … Read more »
Today, a National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) task force released a report mandated by Congress on the risks posed by Section 11 of the STOCK Act, which would require Internet publication of the financial disclosure forms of 28,000 senior … Read more »
Wells blogged previously about the efforts of various media groups and the ACLU to seek mandamus review before the Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR), challenging the scope of the protective order (which covers, among other things, the 9/11 trial) … Read more »
Judge Garland’s persuasive opinion in the ACLU FOIA case is important but narrow, and its significance for intelligence community transparency is entirely unclear.
Recall that the CIA had refused to respond to the ACLU request for records pertaining to drone … Read more »
Pretty big decision by the D.C. Circuit this morning, reversing the district court’s dismissal of the ACLU’s drone-related FOIA suit against the CIA on the ground that the Agency’s “Glomar response” was not justified. (Jack previewed and … Read more »
I don’t normally—or ever, really—write posts based on law firm press releases. But I’m going to make an exception this time for this announcement by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe about Robert Loeb:
Washington, D.C., – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
In writing my testimony for today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on drones and targeted killing of U.S. citizens overseas, I found myself writing a more complete explication of the essential legal rationale underlying the administration’s position on the subject than … Read more »
In an interview last weekend, Congressman Mike Rogers, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, gave unambiguous acknowledgment of CIA involvement in drone strikes. The ACLU attached the interview in a letter to the D.C. Circuit in connection with its … Read more »
Recent events have accelerated a discussion focused around creating a special court to oversee the execution of targeted killings against suspected terrorists. Some Lawfare contributors have weighed in on the idea (see here for Steve’s argument against such a court, … Read more »
Congressman Mike Rogers, the Republican Chairmen of the House Intelligence Committee, revealed Sunday on Face the Nation much more than I had previously known about the nature and scope of congressional intelligence committee oversight of the drone program. He also … Read more »
The most interesting element in Scott Shane’s interesting story on the growing pressure for a Court to vet drone strikes (which quotes Bobby several times) is that the ACLU opposes it. Shane says that Hina Shamsi of the ACLU (these … Read more »
The central substantive issue, legally and morally, in the administration’s Targeted Killing White Paper is how the concept of an “imminent threat” should be understood. This is where much of the debate is going to focus. Already, outrage from American … Read more »
I agree with Ben and Susan that there is little new of substance (but more detail) on imminence and other issues in the DOJ White Paper on targeted killing, and I said as much in my reaction to the White … Read more »
To considerable fanfare, departing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey announced this week the decision to lift the ban on woman serving in combat units. Panetta stated: “General Dempsey and I are pleased to announce … Read more »
[Update - I've clarified some points below, at the bottom, in response to reader feedback]
Ben Emmerson QC is a British human rights law specialist who currently serves as the UN Human Rights Council’s “Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human … Read more »
John Brennan, nominated by President Obama to become the next CIA director, will apparently face some tough questioning from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) at his Senate confirmation hearings (reportedly set for Thursday, February 7, 2:30 pm). Sen. Wyden has sent … Read more »
Judge Colleen McMahon of the District Court of the Southern District of New York has granted summary judgment to the government in the consolidated FOIA cases brought by the New York Times and the ACLU. The plaintiffs were seeking information … Read more »
Done with security review: four recent orders from the military judge, James Pohl, in United States v. Mohammed et al.
The first, AE60A, rejects a defense bid to uncover more information about Judge Pohl’s detailing of himself to the … Read more »
Just after the election, I wrote:
As we have often discussed on this blog, and as Bobby has best documented, terrorist organizations that threaten the United States are increasingly difficult to fit under the AUMF rubric. This raises the
Further to my weekend Readings post noting David Cole’s new SSRN paper, David dropped me a note, which I’m delighted to put up below. I think David is right in these comments; knowing he’s expanding this into a book, … Read more »
Georgetown law professor David Cole has a new article up on SSRN, “Where Liberty Lies: Civil Society and Individual Rights after 9/11.” It offers something of a retrospective on the role of civil society organizations in defending a vision of … Read more »
Here’s your three-part read-out from yesterday’s argument in ACLU v. CIA, or the FOIA action seeking CIA documents about drones.
By way of summary, a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit, comprised of judges Merrick Garland, David Tatel, and … Read more »
Today the D.C. Circuit will hear oral argument concerning the ACLU’s FOIA request to the CIA for records related to the government’s program of targeted killing via “drones.” Cutting through the statutory and doctrinal niceties, the main issue is whether … Read more »
The motions hearing that begins tomorrow in the 9/11 military commissions case is far too sprawling to preview motion by motion. Instead, we’ve broken it up thematically. Nearly all of the 25 motions on which Military Judge James Pohl will … Read more »
A new filing yesterday, in parallel FOIA actions regarding the targeted killing program: the government’s “Combined Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment and Reply in Further Support of Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment.”
Before the Southern District of New … Read more »
Last week, I posted about the national security and personal safety threats posed by Section 11 of the STOCK Act, which would have required senior executive branch officials to post their SF-278 financial disclosure forms (listing all of the debts, … Read more »
That’s the word from James Connell III, an attorney for 9/11 defendant Ammar al Baluchi, a.k.a. Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. The lawyer’s statement is below the fold.
Carrie Cordero, Georgetown’s Director of National Security Studies and a former Justice Department official, writes in with the following account of a recent Cato Institute event (which, ahem, would have been on the Lawfare calendar and the good folks … Read more »
Over at the AEIdeas blog, Marc Thiessen asks derisively: “Why is the ACLU suiting Panetta, Petraus over Awlaki Killing—But Not President Obama?”
He writes:
if it’s accountability they want, then why isn’t President Obama a defendant in the
In Power and Constraint, I argued (in a chapter summarized here) that the Center for Constitutional Rights litigation strategy for GTMO garnered crucial judicial support for GTMO detentions that in the end significantly strengthened the legitimacy of such … Read more »
I have now read through the ACLU-CCR lawsuit on behalf of the Al-Aulaqi and Khan families. Here are my initial thoughts:
First, this lawsuit does not suffer from the prohibitive standing problem that plagued these groups’ earlier efforts to block … Read more »
The ACLU has filed suit over the deaths in drone strikes of three U.S. citizens: Anwar Al-Aulaqi, his 16-year-old son, and AQAP propagandist Samir Khan. The complaint is available here. The ACLU’s press release is available here. I … Read more »
From the Blog of the Legal Times, we learn that the ACLU has filed its opposition to the CIA’s motion to remand, in the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) appeal now awaiting oral argument before the D.C. Circuit.
In … Read more »
Like Jack, I am a little surprised by the government’s brief–filed late last night–in the ACLU/New York Times FOIA case on targeted killings. This was the brief, remember, for which the government received an extension after informing … Read more »
Here is the Government’s brief in support of its summary judgment motion in response to requests by the NYT and ACLU for records on targeted killings, especially with regard to U.S. citizens. This is the brief for which the USG … Read more »
The ACLU has filed its reply brief in the D.C. Circuit in its FOIA case against the government, which seeks information about CIA use of drones for targeted killing. I have discussed this case briefly here and here (the ACLU … Read more »
The New York Times published an editorial yesterday criticizing Monday’s decision by the Second Circuit in ACLU v. Department of Justice, which held that various interrogation-related materials sought by the ACLU and other groups were exempted from Freedom of … Read more »
Back in March, we shared the appellant’s brief in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals case of American Civil Liberties Union v. CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency has filed its respondent brief in that case. The CIA summarizes its … Read more »
As Raffaela noted earlier, Atlantic blogger Conor Friedersdorf has written in praise (sort of) of conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer for the latter’s opposition to domestic drones. I would consider this a heartwarming example of a cross-ideological meeting of the … Read more »
In connection with my post this morning on the Brennan speech and the ACLU FOIA litigation, Jameel Jaffer – who heads up the ACLU’s National Security Project – had this op-ed on the FOIA litigation (with Nathan Wessler) on Monday … Read more »
John Brennan’s speech yesterday was important for at least three reasons: (1) it marked the first official White House acknowledgment that “the United States Government conducts targeted strikes against specific al-Qa’ida terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft, often referred to … Read more »
Peter Margulies responds to Jameel Jaffer’s response:
I appreciate Jameel’s response to my earlier post, as I appreciate the work that he and the ACLU have done in promoting transparency. However, Jameel’s response largely reinforces my argument. First, Jameel
The ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer responds to Peter Margulies’ post yesterday on “moving the goal posts”:
Peter is mistaken. We filed that suit because we thought the photos would help the public understand what had happened in the detention centers. We
Peter Margulies writes in with this response to my request for examples of NGOs moving the goalposts in their demands about counterterrorism legal policy.
Administration critics “moved the goal posts” in responding to the Obama administration’s successful efforts to prevent
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed its opening brief in its appeal of the District Court of the District of Columbia’s granting of a motion for summary judgment for the Central Intelligence Agency. The case stems from a FOIA … Read more »
William Shawcross’s widely-noticed new book, Justice and the Enemy: Nuremberg, 9/11, and the Trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, asks the following: how does a civilized society bring justice to mass murderers, al Qaeda and its adherents, when it has … Read more »
As Raffaella mentioned earlier, the Ninth Circuit released three opinions on Thursday relating to class action litigation against the government and major telecommunications companies (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) for the warrantless wiretapping program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) under … Read more »
When we last looked in on Al Maqaleh v. Gates, the case seeking to extend the right to federal habeas review for non-Afghan detainees held in the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Afghanistan, the petitioners and the government were briefing … Read more »
Wednesday’s arraignment hearing of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri began about twenty minutes after 9 a.m., roughly two hours after most reporters arrived at the Ft. Meade, Maryland remote viewing location. Before jumping into the details of the hearing, I want to … Read more »
The Washington Post is reporting:
The U.S. government said it accidentally turned over a classified document about how it determines who are the most dangerous detainees in Afghanistan to the American Civil Liberties Union, and wants a federal judge
Friday, May 24, 2013
Coverage of President Obama’s speech yesterday is plentiful: Here are Peter Baker of the New York Times, Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller of the Washington Post, and Mark Mazzetti of the Times with an analysis of the key points of the speech. Scott Wilson of the Post also provides a rundown of the speech, and cites Ben. The Associated Press reports on lifting the transfer ban on Yemeni detainees, and Colleen McCain Nelson, Adam Entous, and Julia E. Barnes… Read more »
