Georgetown Security Law Commentary

Scholarship: "The EU, the European Court of Justice and the International Legal Order after Kadi"

"The EU, the European Court of Justice and the International Legal Order after Kadi" by Grainee de Burca (Fordham University School of Law).

Scholarship: “International Criminal Trials for the Guantanamo ‘Hard Cases’”

“International Criminal Trials for the Guantanamo ‘Hard Cases’” (Harvard International Review) by Maj. Shane Reeves (The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Int’l & Operational Law Dep’t)

Scholarship: "Boumediene's Quiet Theory: Access to Courts and the Separation of Powers"

"Boumediene's Quiet Theory: Access to Courts and the Separation of Powers" (Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 84, 2009) by Stephen I. Vladeck (American University Washington College of Law). At the core of Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in Boumediene v. Bush are his repeated suggestions that habeas corpus is an integral aspect of the separation of powers. At least where habeas corpus is concerned, it seems clear from Boumediene that the purpose of judicial review appears to be as much about preserving the role of the courts as it is about protecting the individual rights of the litigants. This article takes on this "quiet theory" behind Kennedy's opinion and asks whether it might have applications beyond the unique context of habeas corpus, especially with regard to the more general constitutional right of access to the courts. Access to courts is as much about protecting the courts as it is about vindicating the individual rights of litigants. Thus, going forward, Boumediene might do more than just answer the circumstance-specific question about habeas corpus rights for non-citizens detained as "enemy combatants"; it might provide the starting point for a new theory of access to the federal courts in particular that could allow us to rethink a number of tenets of federal courts doctrine.

Scholarship: "National Security Fact Deference"

"National Security Fact Deference" (Virginia Law Review, 2009) by Robert Chesney (Wake Forest University School of Law).  Judges frequently defer to the executive branch regarding disputed questions of fact in cases involving national security, but they do not frequently offer a coherent justification for doing so. This article tries to alleviate this uncertainty, in hopes of shifting the practice of national security fact deference onto more defensible grounds. Because national security considerations for the most part are sensitive to the circumstances of particular cases, we cannot and should not pursue a single model for resolving fact deference claims.  However, the article offers some theoretical insights on the motivations of judicial deference to the executive. By providing a coherent theoretical justification for supporting such claims in limited circumstances, these insights will help to identify and curb unwarranted claims.

Why the Obama administration is right not to argue Al-Marri in the Supreme Court

Today, the Obama administration unsealed the criminal indictment of Ali Al-Marri, the only man being held in indefinite military detention as an enemy combatant on US soil.  Until yesterday, the case was scheduled to be argued before the Supreme Court, and would have likely answered one of the biggest remaining questions in the War on Terror cases: who exactly is an enemy combatant.  

The administration has requested that the Supreme Court dismiss the pending case, and when the case is dismissed, Al-Marri will be transferred from military detention to the custody of the DOJ, where he will be prosecuted using American standards of justice.  Attorney General Eric Holder said today, "In this administration, we will hold accountable anyone who attempts to do harm to Americans, and we will do so in a manner consistent with our values."  The change from indefinite military detention to criminal prosecution is applauded by many, including Al-Marri’s at the ACLU, but interestingly, the ACLU opposes the administration’s motion to dismiss the pending Supreme Court case.

There are three potential reasons the Obama administration wisely chose not to argue Al-Marri in the Supreme Court.  First, a government win in this historic case would create the wrong legacy for the Obama administration, and losing it wouldn’t be much better. Second, Obama has smartly elected to argue this issue on a record of his own making, not that of the Bush administration.  Third, not arguing the case sends the right message to the world: the Obama administration adheres to the rule of law.

How important is this case? On the surface, it is only about one person – Al-Marri – who is the only person declared an enemy combatant and held in indefinite military detention on US soil.  But the legal issue at stake, who precisely is an enemy combatant, is the lynchpin of not only Al-Marri’s case, but all the War on Terror detention cases, including detainees at Guantanamo.  Moreover, it affects every American citizen, as the law that applies to Al-Marri will apply to us too: if the Supreme Court holds that Al-Marri can be declared an enemy combatant and held indefinitely with minimal due process, here in America, the same will be true for all Americans.

The first reason Obama may have chosen not to argue Al-Marri, is that a Supreme Court opinion in the case, no matter what the outcome is, would be a historic opinion and an early harbinger of Obama’s legacy in this very difficult and contentious intersection of law, war, detention, and civil liberties. Predicting the Supreme Court’s outcome is tricky at best, but if the administration prevailed and the Supreme Court affirmed Al-Marri’s military detention, the victory would have been won by re-arguing the Bush administration’s positions – the very positions against which Obama campaigned. That simply cannot be the legacy he wishes to leave, and arguing this case leaves no other option.  If the government were to lose, well, he will have pursued Bush’s positions, and lost.  Perhaps better for his legacy in the long run, but hardly a desirable outcome.

Second, letting go of this case would permits Obama to take the issue up in the Supreme Court on a record of his own making.  The record in Al-Marri may not have been looked kindly upon by the Justices, who have become understandably skeptical of the Bush administration’s legal positions. The critical issue in the case, the definition of enemy combatant, is pending in many District Court habeas cases, where they will be fully litigated. If it happens that the District Court cases are appealed up to the Supreme Court, then Obama can argue the case on a record he made himself; his administration need not be put in the undesirable position of defending Bush administration policies in the highest court of the land.

Third, and most importantly, not arguing Al-Marri sends the right signal to the world: Obama has broken from the Bush administration, and shown that the new DOJ doesn’t play duck and run in criminal prosecutions, as the Bush administration did in Al-Marri. Putting Al-Marri in a criminal trial demonstrates Obama’s fidelity to the rule of law and the American justice system that he has said he will use for terrorism prosecutions, even if later chooses to hold some other terrorist suspects in military detention

Despite how welcome the Supreme Court’s guidance would be on the definition of enemy combatant to those who follow and litigate the issue, the Obama administration has made the right move. Whether it is because of the legacy arguing this historic case would create, the fact that he will litigate this issue and can argue it in the Supreme Court on merits of his own making, or because he wanted to demonstrate to the world that his administration adheres to the rule of law, today Obama has taken an important step towards a corrected litigation strategy in the War on Terror cases. Change has come to the War on Terror.

Scholarship: Recent publications on deference to the executive during national security crises

"Constitutional Crises" (University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 2009) by Sanford Levinson (University of Texas Law School) Jack M. Balkin (Yale University Law School). This article argues discusses three different types of constitutional crises: (1) when political leaders believe that exigencies require public violation of the constitution; (2) situations where fidelity to constitutional forms leads to ruin or disaster; and (3) situations where publicly articulated disagreements about the Constitution lead political actors to engage in or threaten violent protest. If a central purpose of constitutions is to make politics possible, constitutional crises mark moments when constitutions threaten to fail at this central task. HT to National Security Advisors.

"The Long War, the Federal Courts, and the Necessity/Legality Paradox" (University of Richmond Law Review, 2009) by Stephen I. Vladeck (American University Washington College of Law). This paper is a review of Ben Wittes's book "Law and the Long War: The Future of Justice in the Age of Terror."  The review takes issue with Wittes's criticism of judicial intervention in the war on terror.  First, as a descriptive matter, the courts have been a model of judicial restraint. Second, Wittes suggests that aggressive judicial review is dangerous, because it will lead to the courts having to pass upon programs that may be necessary, albeit illegal. The review argues that Wittes is wrong to conclude that the optimal solution in those situations is for the courts to stay out of such disputes altogether. HT to National Security Advisors.

"A Skeptical View of Deference to the Executive in Times of Crisis" (Israel Law Review) by Fionnuala D. Ni Aolain (University of Minnesota Law School) and Oren Gross (University of Minnesota Law School).  In times of crisis there is an unmistakable tendency in numerous legal systems to allow the Executive  branch to augment and extend its powers. This article casts doubt on the virtues of judicial deference during crises, arguing that across-the-board institutional legal engagement with state action is particularly important in times of crisis. Scholars advocating for exclusive executive supremacy in times of crisis fail to measure the harms that may be caused by inept or illegal state action, not only as experienced by individual victims but to the broader project of discouraging and dissuading the resort to group based violence. HT to National Security Advisors.

Scholarship: "Universal Jurisdiction and the Dilemmas of International Criminal Justice: The Sabra and Shatila Case in Belgium"

"Universal Jurisdiction and the Dilemmas of International Criminal Justice: The Sabra and Shatila Case in Belgium" (Human Rights Advocacy Stories) Deena R. Hurwitz (University of Virginia Law).  This article discusses the background of the Sabra and Shatila prosecution in Belgium.  In 2001 Belgium applied its statute for universal jurisdiction over grave crimes against international law to prosecute Ariel Sharon and others for Israel's role in the 1982 massacres of Palestinians in the Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Although the Belgian Supreme Court upheld the jurisdictional basis of the statute, under intense American pressure, the Belgian parliament responded shortly thereafter by passing a new law, effectively eliminating the universal jurisdiction provision by requiring that victims or alleged perpetrators have some nexus with Belgium. The article uses the intricacies of the case to examine how law and politics may become inextricably intertwined in human rights cases. HT to National Security Advisors.

4th Circuit removes FSIA hurdle to most torture suits

By Sarah Wappett-Kendall, CNSL Research Assistant    

It has long been the rule that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) protects not just foreign governments but also their officials from suit in U.S. courts. However, in the recent case of Yousuf v. Samantar, the Fourth Circuit held that the FSIA does not protect individuals from suit under the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The district court had followed the majority of circuits and had ruled that the FSIA provides immunity to individuals who acted as an “agency or instrumentality” of a foreign state. The Fourth Circuit, however, split with its sister circuits, holding that the statutory construction of the FSIA does not allow it to apply to individuals (and certainly not to individuals who are no longer government officials). It held that common law doctrines of act of state immunity might apply, but deciding cases on the basis of these doctrines introduces more uncertainty and takes far longer because the Executive branch has to weigh in than the simple jurisdictional rule of FSIA. The Fourth Circuit’s view is (1) a better outcome in the instant case; (2) a better reflection of Congress’s intent in drafting the TVPA; and (3) a better protection of separation of powers; but it will encourage more suits against properly immune defendants (such as Belhas and Matar noted below) and force them to litigate on the merits in order to avail themselves of common law immunities such as the act of state doctrine.

Ali Samantar, was the Somali government official in charge of the nation’s armed forces in the 1980s and 1990s as First Vice President, Minister of Defense, and then Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Somalia. Plaintiffs allege that the Somali military, under the direction of General Samantar, disregarded the distinction between civilians and rebels and allege a litany of human rights abuses and war crimes including extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detentions. Plaintiffs brought suit in the Eastern District of Virginia under the TVPA and the ACTA against Samantar, who currently resides in Virginia. The court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on April 27, 2007. Plaintiffs appealed to the Fourth Circuit.

In considering the TVPA, the majority of courts have reasoned that Congress intended that FSIA should immunize all conduct expressly ratified by foreign governments, even when the challenged conduct is torture or other egregious human rights violations (see example here). FSIA therefore protects Samantar under the majority view, and the district court ruled accordingly when the government of Somalia wrote in support of Samantar claiming that any actions, including all those alleged in the plaintiff’s complaint, fell within the scope of his official duties.

Courts have ruled that individuals acting in their official capacities are also subject to FSIA immunity. However, defendants acting outside their official capacities do not. An official of a foreign government is acting within his official capacity when two conditions are met: (1) the defendant’s actions are lawful according to the laws of defendant’s state (and thus within the scope of his authority), or (2) those actions were authorized by a public admission of that foreign state. Under the majority view, FSIA immunity has largely been up to the defendant’s home government’s decision to ratify conduct or not.

Previous cases have emphasized whether the government in question was willing to ratify the controversial acts of its officers. In two recent cases, Israeli generals were sued under TVPA for ordering bombings against Lebanon and Gaza. In these cases, the Israeli government wrote to the State Department requesting that the suits be dismissed as the generals had been acting in their official capacities and asserting that allowing the suits to proceed would have been akin to suing the State of Israel itself. The U.S. State Department submitted a Statement of Interest (SOI) in Matar (but not Belhas) urging dismissal based on sovereign immunity. Both Belhas and Matar were dismissed based on immunity under FSIA, reflecting the position of the majority of the Circuits. In Yousuf, as in Belhas and Matar, the government of the defendant wrote on his behalf effectively ratifying all of his alleged actions. Without any evidence that the defendant acted in a personal or private capacity or that his actions were unlawful and not authorized by the state, the majority view is that Samantar should receive immunity under FSIA.

The Fourth Circuit, however, took a hard look at the linguistic construction of the FSIA and ruled that it does not afford immunity to individuals. Without analyzing the assessments and conclusions over the statute’s language, the result is that, as Judge Duncan noted in his concurring opinion, Samantar and future defendants will have to rely on “common law immunities that predate the FSIA” such as act or state and head of state immunity. While those potential defendants who would be immune would probably be the same, the change would not likely protect them from having to defend against a suit on the merits. The ratification of an individual’s actions by his home government no longer offers automatic immunity in U.S.courts (at least, in the Fourth Circuit). It would be subject to the opinion of the Executive Branch as articulated by the State Department as to whether act of state or head of state immunity should apply.

This outcome better respects Congressional intent for the TVPA and the ACTA as well as the legal principles of allowing the Executive to guide matters of foreign relations. This arrangement will permit the results in Belhas and Matar but also allow suits against defendants like Samantar to go forward. The trade-off is that, under the Fourth Circuit’s view, properly immune defendants will have to litigate a suit longer before it is dismissed under the common law act/head of state immunity.

Scholarship: "Viewing Hamdan Through a Military Lens"

"Viewing Hamdan Through a Military Lens" by Geoffrey S. Corn South Texas College of Law Oklahoma City University Law Review.  The Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld provided an important reaffirmation of something military operational lawyers had always known: treating captured enemies humanely is an essential component of preserving the demarcation line between disciplined military operations and battlefield anarchy. In rejecting the selective invocation of the laws of war, the Supreme Court seemed to understand and confirm that this area of law reflects a delicate balance between authority and obligation, a principle reflected in longstanding Department of Defense policies. This brief essay will address this aspect of the opinion, and how the Court's impetus for cooperative military policy ultimately strengthened the head of the government.

Scholarship: "Finding the Tort of Terrorism in International Law"

"Finding the Tort of Terrorism in International Law" by Beth Van Schaack, Santa Clara University School of Law.  This article focuses on the potential of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) to serve as a vehicle for asserting civil claims in U.S. courts for acts of terrorism. Although this paper primarily considers terrorism torts under the "law of nations" prong of the ATS (which requires a showing that the relevant prohibition is part of customary international law), terrorism torts may provide a vehicle for activating the ATS's dormant treaty prong as well, given the strong support for the terrorism treaties exhibited by the United States and the high degree of domestic incorporation of the crimes identified therein.