As Wells noted on Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit granted the government’s petition for rehearing en banc in Al-Bahlul v. United States. This is a very important development, as the full appeals court will now determine whether military commissions may … Read more »
As Wells and Ben wrote yesterday, the D.C. Circuit granted the government’s petition for rehearing en banc in U.S. v. Bahlul. Today, the accused’s counsel asked the court to clarify instructions it issued in granting en banc review.
The D.C. … Read more »
Whoa. This is very big news—though what it means is far less clear.
The D.C. Circuit has granted the government’s petition for rehearing en banc in the military commission case of U.S. v. Al-Bahlul. It thus appears that a majority … 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
The New York Times has a news analysis piece by this morning the excellent Charlie Savage, which requires a moment’s reflection. Charlie is about as good a reporter as there is out there on Lawfare-related matters, and he has … Read more »
The Guantánamo military commissions yesterday released—after a security review—a pair of important filings by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor (OCP), regarding the ongoing controversy over the conspiracy charges against the five 9/11 defendants. (For background, see our prior coverage … Read more »
Here’s the word from James Connell III, lawyer for 9/11 accused Ammar al-Baluchi. Note his surmise that the “conspiracy charges issue” may not be up for argument before the military commission until later this spring:
Today, the D.C.
What, if anything, do developments in the military commission case of United States v. al-Nashiri portend for Al-Nashiri v. MacDonald, an ongoing, civil challenge to the accused’s war crimes prosecution? The question arises in letters filed in the civil … Read more »
Fresh from a security scrub are these two items in United States v. Mohammed et. al.: first, an Amended Docketing order, wherein Judge James Pohl excises two previously scheduled defense motions to compel discovery from the agenda for … Read more »
We end the evening with this procedural nugget from Jess Bravin of the Wall Street Journal: in Hamdan II, the deadline for the United States to seek en banc review from the D.C. Circuit, or a writ of … Read more »
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 »
Remember the Chief Prosecutor’s tactical recommendation to pull standalone conspiracy charges in the 9/11 case—in light of the D.C. Circuit’s analysis in Hamdan II, and the strong likelihood that the same court (or the Supreme Court) would follow … Read more »
As I discuss in my forthcoming book, International Law in the U.S. Legal System, regardless of whether customary international law has the status of self-executing federal law, it can play an important role in U.S. litigation. The invocation of … Read more »
Apropos of Charlie Savage’s story (and Bobby’s follow-up) on the government’s litigation tactics in Hamdan and al-Bahlul: assuming the material support and conspiracy charges in those cases indeed are tossed out (through final invalidation by the courts, or through … Read more »
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 »
The government has filed its reply brief in Hedges. The new brief rounds out the briefing, joining the government’s opening brief and the appellees’ brief—along with a bunch of amicus briefs. It opens:
We explained in our
About six weeks ago, I flagged the (in my view, alarming) filing by the government of a notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit in the Guantanamo MOU/continuing access-to-counsel litigation. Late last night, the government filed this unopposed motion … Read more »
Today, lawyers for Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and other federal officials sued in their individual capacities, filed a motion to dismiss in the case of Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta et al. The defendants have asked the district court to throw … Read more »
Looks like the D.C. Circuit is going to get another crack at Bagram jurisdiction. Maqaleh II, decided by the district court in mid-October, is headed up. Good luck with that!
[UPDATED 3:18 p.m.] Lawyers for military commission accused Ali Hamza Suliman Ahmad Al-Bahlul have filed their supplemental, what-do-we-make-of-Hamdan brief with the D.C. Circuit. The government’s response is due on January 9 of next year; the accused’s reply is due … Read more »
Courtesy of Todd Ruger from the National Law Journal, it appears that D.C. Circuit Chief Judge David Sentelle will be taking senior status as of February 12, 2013. That will reduce to seven the total number of active D.C. … Read more »
What’s a habeas petitioner to do, if 1) current and former U.S. military officials believe that he no longer poses a significant threat, and that his law of war detention is no longer necessary; but 2) a Periodic Review Board … Read more »
Vice Admiral (Retired) Bruce MacDonald, the Convening Authority for the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, has filed his appellate brief in Al-Nashiri v. MacDonald. That’s the civilian court lawsuit brought by commission defendant Abd Al Rahim Hussein Al-Nashiri, and now … Read more »
In papers filed Friday, the government renewed its request for a summary affirmance, and opposed an attempt by habeas petitioner Mohammed Rimi to remand his appeal to the district court.
Rimi was transferred from Guantanamo to Libya in 2006. … Read more »
The government has advised the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that it may not have jurisdiction over a Guantanamo habeas appeal it is getting ready to hear. Last year, the government prevailed in the district court in the case of … Read more »
I agree with much of what Jack says in his recent post about the counterterrorism issues likely to face President Obama in his second term. But there’s one aspect of how Jack frames the discussion that I disagree with somewhat. … Read more »
Today marks the five-month anniversary of the oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit in United States v. Hamdan, the first post-conviction appeal to reach the Court of Appeals under the Military Commissions Acts of 2006 and 2009 (and about … 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 »
I have spent a lot of time publishing other people’s statements on the death of Adnan Latif over the past couple of days and have refrained from expressing my own views—in part because I have been gathering and composing my … Read more »
Yesterday the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in United States v. Mohammed, in which the defendant, Afghan citizen Khan Mohammed, appealed his conviction on narcoterrorism charges stemming from his involvement in a plot to attack a NATO base in … Read more »
The Harvard Law Review has published this article on the Latif decision as its presumption of regularity by a student named Al-Amyn Sumar. The article is dated in two important respects–first, that it argues for cert that was denied just … 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 »
* A DC Circuit panel has issued an opinion giving the State Department four months maximum to make a final decision on PMOI’s petition to revoke its status as a designated foreign terrorist organization. The issue has been somewhat high … Read more »
The D.C. Circuit today handed down a decision in a civil case concerning Col. Morris Davis, once the Chief Prosecutor in the Office of Military Commissions.
Davis had sued in district court, advancing (among other things) Bivens claims against his … Read more »
Both the NYT Becker-Shane “Kill List” story and the Klaidman book excerpt have implications for the pending ACLU FOIA suit in CADC, which seeks CIA records on CIA drone strikes. (It also has implications for the broader ACLU FOIA case … 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 »
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 »
Abdul-Rahman Suleiman’s petition for rehearing en banc in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has been denied, as has his petition for rehearing.
Read our prior coverage here.
Oral argument in Hamdan will be held on Thursday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judges David Sentelle, Brett Kavanaugh and Douglas Ginsburg. This order just came in regarding oral argument:
It is ORDERED, on the court’s own
The D.C. Circuit has released a less-redacted version of its Latif opinion. I haven’t read it yet, but the D.C. Circuit Review web site has and notes that the new version offers significantly more information about the underlying intelligence … 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 »
