The other day, I tried to read the tea leaves and figure out where the notion of "imminent threat" comes from in the administration's legal views of targeted killing. I speculated that the source of the ...

As my co-authors and I put the finishing touches on the 2014-15 Supplement to Aspen Publishers' National Security Law and Counterterrorism Law casebooks, I had another thought about the potential consequ...

There's a lot to discuss about the OLC memo on the al-Aulaqi strike---including, as Ben mentioned yesterday, the origins and significance of "imminence."  (There's also excellent analysis over at Just Se...

On May 27, a unanimous Supreme Court---to little notice from just about anyone---handed down a case called Plumhoff v. Rickard, which dealt with a police shooting and a claim of excessive force during a ...

I have this feeling that a lot of people are going to mischaracterize the just-released OLC memo on the Anwar Al-Aulaqi strike. Just a guess. So before expressing any opinions on the subject or arguing w...

As I read Ben’s, Jack’s, John’s Steve’s and Wells’s posts, I come away with the impression that there is unanimous agreement at Lawfare that Abu Khattala (a) cannot be sent to Guantánamo for further inte...

Among the proposed amendments to the DOD appropriations bill currently under consideration in the House of Representatives is this doozy, courtesy of Arkansas Rep.

Here it is.  The text opens: Good afternoon. Today Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi—an Iraqi national whose records indicate was born as Nashwan Abd al Razzaq in 1961 in the city of Mosul—was arraigned before a Unit...

Various reports of the President’s meeting with congressional leaders (e.g here and here – note especially Pelosi’s comments) suggest that the administration believes that the 2001 AUMF (post-9/11) and t...

It’s go time at the Expeditionary Legal Complex, Courtroom Two. After some shuffling of papers and adjusting of microphones, the military judge, Navy Capt. J. Kirk Waits, calls the initial hearing to ord...