The next several elements of the Human Rights First report card all deal with detention and trial. The first of these is the failing grade HRF gives to the Obama administration for not closing Guantanamo...

So here are the first two elements of the Human Rights First report card, how I would recast them, and the grades I would assign. HRF's initial element reads: Grade: A- Standing Firm Against Use of Tort...

Human Rights First has published a report card, entitled "Assessing the Obama Administration’s Record of Compliance with the Rule of Law and Human Rights in National Security Policy." In reading it over,...

Brookings has just released a paper I have been working on with two coauthors on rationalizing government collection authorities for data held in the hands of third parties. The paper, entitled "Rational...

The New York Times editorial page has really outdone itself this time. I'm afraid I can no longer hedge my account of the way it is treating the subject of the legality of  detention. The Times editorial...

Tom Malinowski has an interesting op-ed in the Post today on the topic of the proposed executive order addressing annual reconsideration of GTMO detention decisions.  He notes that there may be interest ...

This is interesting.  Today in one of the more recent Guantanamo merits appeals, that of Toffiq Nasser Awad Al Bihani, the government and petitioner jointly filed for summary affirmance of the district c...

Congressional Republicans are quaking now. The President today expressed his "strong objection" to two provisions of the defense authorization bill and has threatened to "work with the Congress to seek [...

Here is the full text of President Obama's signing statement for the defense authorization bill.

President Obama’s options with respect to the GTMO transfer restrictions in the 2011 Defense Authorization bill appear to be as follows: (1) veto the bill; (2) sign the bill but decide to transfer detain...

Today the Department of Defense announced that Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed, a Guantanamo detainee, was transferred back to his native Algeria. According to the DoD press release, the United States "coordina...

No, this has nothing to do with wikileaks as such.  But you may recall a case from a few years ago involving a CIA officer who attempted to sue the agency for discrimination, only to have the case thrown...

The ACLU has sent a letter to President Obama that takes an interesting position on the detainee transfer provisions in the Defense Authorization Act for FY11.  First, it points out that the constraints ...

Readers interested in my post from yesterday will find this document useful; prepared by OLC veterans from the Clinton administration in response to the controversy over the Bush administration's use of ...

An interesting debate has broken out among liberals about the possibility of President Obama's issuing a signing statement on the Guantanamo restrictions. Adam Serwer writes, There's a pretty clear ethic...

I have a few thoughts on Dafna Linzer's story from yesterday, which reported that the President means to push back against congressional efforts to impede trial and transfer of Guantanamo detainees by is...