Yesterday, Senator Lindsey Graham held a press conference, in which he unsurprisingly lamented the White House’s decision not to treat Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as an “enemy combatant.”
A transcript is below.
GRAHAM:
Thank you for coming.
I understand at 2:50, we’re
Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain were quick out of the box last night in declaring that the Obama administration should hold Dzhokar Tsarnaev in military detention:
Now that the suspect is in custody, the last thing we should want
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 »
Further to Ben’s points on Senators Ayotte and Graham, note that the latter suggests that the Administration did something improper, in its handling of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith:
“To bring this person to New York City, if that’s what happened,
Over at Politico, Ginger Gibson is reporting that:
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) criticized the Obama administration on Thursday over reports that an al-Qaeda leader had been brought to New York.
According to The New
Senator Lindsey Graham threatened yesterday to block confirmation of Chuck Hagel and John Brennan unless President Obama provides more information about his knowledge of the Benghazi attacks.
I have great respect for Senator Graham, a staunch conservative and strong military … Read more »
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 »
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
Wells is exactly right–and Senators Levin and Graham are exactly wrong–about the implications of last night’s Senate vote approving Senator Feinstein’s amendment to the FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act. Wells linked to the amendment, but here is the relevant … Read more »
Attorneys for Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte—all members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services—have filed an amicus brief in support of the government in Hedges v. Obama. (Background here.)
From the brief’s “Introduction and Summary … Read more »
My friend, Jack Goldsmith, wonders whether my earlier post about the pending Congressional proposal to regulate cybersecurity was a reference to General Alexander’s failure to persuade Senator McCain of the merits of a regulatory program, or an expression of my … Read more »
While the experience is fresh, I thought I’d share some reflections on this morning’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Due Process Guarantee Act. [The SJC hearing page has copies of the witness statements (including my own), and … Read more »
One Republican lawmaker said public opposition would escalate sharply if and when the administration formally notified Congress it intends to transfer the prisoners, who come from the highest ranks of the Afghan militant movement.
“If they do
By Marty Lederman and Steve Vladeck*
[Cross-posted at OpinioJuris]
Section 1021 of the NDAA and the Laws of War
In our companion post, we explained that section 1021 of the NDAA will not have the dramatic effects that … Read more »
By Marty Lederman and Steve Vladeck*
[Cross-posted at OpinioJuris]
Editorial pages and blogs have been overrun in the past couple of weeks with analyses and speculation about the detainee provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act, which the President … Read more »
You can read the edited transcript from the Senate’s debate yesterday on the detention provisions here. Previous coverage is available here and here. This includes debate on the Sessions amendment starting on page 4, the Feinstein amendments starting … Read more »
As so many of you have found our earlier post of the Senate debate over the NDAA useful, we wanted to offer legislative materials related to the Senate’s deliberations. I will continue to update this post with new materials, as … Read more »
Having now returned from my undisclosed location, here’s a transcript of the Senate floor debate on the NDAA.
The Senate debated the bill on Thursday and Friday. This transcript, helpfully includes only those portions of the debate that … Read more »
Two streams of detention-related legal argument came together at the Senate Judiciary Committee today, as AG Holder answered questions from Senator Graham. Their colloquy blended the question of the fate of GTMO with the narrower, but increasingly contentious, question of … Read more »
I awoke this morning to a genuine marvel: An actual real-live correction to a New York Times editorial on a national security issue. It reads as follows:
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 22,
The invaluable Josh Gerstein of the Politico offers these important pieces of the legislative politics puzzle surrounding the Kelly Ayotte amendment, which I wrote about here and here:
The vote, taken just after 1 a.m. Friday, broke largely along
Further to this post on the President’s letter to Congress (and its significance in light of the War Powers Resolution, or “WPR”), here are two recent and quite post-worthy developments regarding military action in Libya. First up is a letter … Read more »
Eric Holder, the Politico is reporting, has now said that it would have been lawful to shoot Bin Laden even if he had tried to surrender:
Holder initially said the U.S. team “obviously” should have accepted if bin Laden
The Washington Post has an interesting editorial today largely in support of Senator Lindsey Graham’s new habeas bill. Like me, the Post expresses sympathy for Graham’s basic project, and objects to the probable cause standard for detention, instead of … Read more »
The U.N. Security Council has authorized “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians, but we still have no word on whether the President thinks he needs congressional authorization to intervene in Libya, or whether Congress would give it to him … Read more »
In fulfillment of my promise last week to provide analysis of the various pieces of new Senate legislation, here are some thoughts on the new version of Senator Lindsey Graham’s habeas reform bill. The bill is largely a reintroduction … Read more »
I promised Thursday night to write up comments on the new legislation that has emerged in the Senate. Let me start with the proposal by Senator John McCain on detention rules. This bill, introduced by Sens. McCain, Lindsey Graham, … Read more »
Several new bills were introduced in the Senate today by a shifting group of mostly-Republican senators. I have not had a chance to review any of these yet, but here’s the top-line:
The New York Times’ Charlie Savage notes an interesting letter sent to President Obama by the new House Armed Services Committee Chairman, Buck McKeon, concerning plans for an executive order establishing a detention review system:
“As you know, any issue
The combination of Jack’s post and sleeping on the subject has mostly set my mind at ease on the difference between an executive order and a statute for purposes of the Guantanamo review system currently on the table–but not entirely.… Read more »
Sen. Lindsey Graham has called for a halt to transfers from Guantanamo in light of the recidivism rate reported by the Director of National Intelligence. A few thoughts on this general subject:
First, we have a wholly underdeveloped political vocabulary … Read more »
It is hardly a surprise that John Bellinger III is being attacked (here and here, for example) for his modest suggestion in the Washington Post the other day that Congress should update the AUMF. (Attacking the moderate and … Read more »
In his speech yesterday, incoming House Armed Services chairman Buck McKeon promised that his committee would work in the coming Congress on a “legal framework” for detention. Here’s hoping he is more serious about it this coming year than … Read more »
Everyone seems to have very strong views about where to try KSM. I don’t. I think there’s a defensible case for trying him in a military commission. I think there’s a defensible case for trying him in a civilian court. … Read more »
Two quick thoughts in response to Jack’s post from early this morning:
First, it bears emphasis that the sort of policy creativity reflected in the dialog between Jack and Rick Pildes concerning options like fixed-length detention terms can only come … Read more »
Nine years after it was enacted in response to the September 11 attacks, the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) remains the primary basis for detaining and targeting terrorists who threaten the United States. The AUMF, however, authorizes force only … Read more »
Here’s an interesting addition to our discussion of Lindsey Graham’s Guantanamo habeas legislation. Walter Kuhn, Minority Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime & Drugs, has written a forthcoming law review article entitled, “The Terrorist Detention Review … Read more »
One person we have not heard from in our extensive discussion on this blog of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s habeas legislation, S. 3707, is Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham has been uncharacteristically reticent on the subject of his legislation, since introducing … Read more »
Earlier today I posted some thoughts in response to Steve Vladeck’s commentary on the Graham bill, focused on the question of which groups ought to fall within the scope of the government’s authority to use military force. Steve had expressed … Read more »
Ben has previously posted at length (see here for the first installment) regarding the pros and cons of Senator Graham’s bill on detention (see here for the first in the series), and over the weekend Steve Vladeck joined the conversation… Read more »
Daphne Eviatar responds to my comments and challenge of last week. As promised, I am posting her response unedited:
Last week, Brookings Institution fellow Benjamin Wittes continued an exchange we’ve been having on Lindsey Graham’s proposed legislation which seeks to … Read more »
Peter Margulies, author of Law’s Detour: Justice Displaced in the Bush Administration, kicks off our discussion of S. 3707 with some very-thoughtful comments on future dangerousness and the bill’s bar on claims of post-capture vitiation. I have added some … Read more »
In the few days this blog has been operating, it has already developed a readership with a remarkable range of expertise, background and politics–including people who have engaged the issue of detention from just about every angle. So I am … Read more »
As I discussed earlier, there is a common misapprehension in the debate over the Guantánamo habeas cases—and detention law more broadly—that equates legislative approaches to detention with harsher policy and treats common law adjudication as more favorable to detainees. … Read more »
The Graham habeas bill is far from perfect. It would benefit a great deal from serious engagement from the administration (which has failed so far even to respond to it), habeas counsel, and human rights and civil liberties groups. The … Read more »
The Graham habeas bill is not entirely an exercise in codification and entrenchment of existing practices. It does, in important respects, modify and tailor the rules as well. The bill’s innovations occur both at a high altitude and at … Read more »
I wish to continue my analysis of the Graham habeas legislation by pointing out a few things the bill does not do. It is important to appreciate the bill’s limited impact, for that is actually one of its virtues. It … Read more »
The much-discussed legislation by Sen. Lindsey Graham to guide habeas corpus cases brought by detainees at Guantánamo Bay, S.3707, was quietly introduced a few weeks ago. The bill represents an important maturation in the debate over detention, and it deserves … Read more »
A week ago, Human Rights First activist Daphne Eviatar took me and Sen. Lindsey Graham to task as defenders of torture. She didn’t quite put it that way. Her argument went, rather, along these lines: The government, as a report … Read more »
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
In one of the strangest stories I’ve come across in a long time—and there have been many—news reports say an FBI agent shot and killed an Orlando man with ties to deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Ibragim Todashev was not suspected of playing a role in the bombings, but, during questioning, confessed nevertheless to playing a role in a triple homicide in the Boston area. After his confession, Todashev allegedly… Read more »
