A former research assistant of mine writes with news of a conference at Columbia Law School May 23-25 that may be of interest to our readers. I copied the announcement below. More information available here. The Center for Climate Change Law and the Republic of the Marshall Islands are co-sponsoring a conference, "Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of a Changing...
Cross-posted at Balkinization In response to my post a few days ago lamenting the post-bin Laden urge to rehash debates about torture’s efficacy, Ben Wittes writes to disagree. “Pearlstein is right, of course, that we will never know with any certainty whether any specific piece of information that the CIA program developed would have been developed had the program used no coercion–or...
Cross-posted at Balkinization For all the interesting things that might be said about the still-emerging circumstances of bin Laden’s death, it’s disheartening to see conversation already turning to old, old debates about interrogation. Peter King (R-N.Y.) was naturally quick to suggest that reports that information leading to bin Laden’s capture came from detainees held at Guantanamo Bay should lead Obama...
Having just read through the new order quickly, a few thoughts. First, as had been long rumored, the order essentially sets up a periodic review system for the Guantanamo detainees. The review system is discretionary in nature, but appears designed to supplement the already existing and fairly robust review available to Gitmo detainees through the federal courts since...
The President's much-anticipated executive order on Guantanamo was released today. I hope to read and comment on it shortly (not to mention figure out how to post a PDF). In the meantime, the press statement is here. It reads in its entirety as follows: Statement by President Barack Obama: “From the beginning of my Administration, the United States has...
In case any one finds themselves in/around Philadelphia on March 5, this event may be of interest: Supreme Court litigators Carter G. Phillips and Kannon Shanmugam will argue a case based on hypothetical federal legislation that exempts police from issuing Miranda warnings to individuals suspected of terrorism. A jury of nine distinguished judges will decide if such legislation can withstand constitutional...
Cross-posted at Balkinization It felt like a lively discussion Friday at the panel hosted by American University scholar Dan Marcus on “Guantanamo Detainees – What Next?” (Many thanks to Ken for plugging it earlier in the week. I take it the session will at some point be available among webcasts on the law school website.) Jack Goldsmith gave a keynote...
The Times and others are reporting that current Acting Head of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice, David Barron, will be leaving his post this summer to head back to his professorship at Harvard Law School. (OLC rose to national prominence during the last administration as the home of John Yoo and colleagues, who...
Cross-posted at Balkinization Nothing like summertime to catch up on a little light reading I spent too little time with during the semester. So especially after being re-energized at this year’s American Constitution Society Convention (where I did a panel with Gene Fidell and others far more interesting than I on military commissions vs. federal courts, and got treated to...
Cross-posted at Balkinization I hate to interrupt the terrific insta-symposium on the Supreme Court's decision in Samantar already underway at Opinio Juris, but I did want to note the much-anticipated release of Philip Alston’s report as UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings. I take it the relevant press release and report will be available here. I’m just now paging through...
Cross-posted at Balkinization Following my co-blogger Ken Anderson’s lead, I wanted to add a few additional notes on the D.C. Circuit’s holding today that a group of detainees held at the U.S. military base at Bagram, Afghanistan, do not have a constitutional right to seek a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. federal court. While acknowledging that at least two...
Still catching up on yesterday’s news that DOD released the much-anticipated 2010 edition of the Manual for Military Commissions (MMC). The Manual is here. Among its many provisions of interest (I’m still skimming) are the rules set forth for prosecutions for the commission crime of material support for terrorism – a crime I and others have argued does not...
