Has Israel formally requested US assistance in its self-defense as per this from State Dept? If anyone has a public statement from Israel on this, would be interested to see. @bcfinucane.bsky.social @becingber.bsky.social @rgoodlaw.bsky.social www.state.gov/releases/off...
In February 2025, the U.S. designated eight Latin American cartels and criminal enterprises as both Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. @poorvika.bsky.social and @katie-tomski.bsky.social explore the consequences of these designations for the rule of law.
Has Israel formally requested US assistance in its self-defense as per this from State Dept? If anyone has a public statement from Israel on this, would be interested to see. @bcfinucane.bsky.social @becingber.bsky.social @rgoodlaw.bsky.social www.state.gov/releases/off...
Reposting given Trump’s renewed threats to attack all of Iran’s bridges and power plants.
Applying total systemic friction on the cartels. On April 11, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two male narco-terrorists were killed, and one narco-terrorist survived the first strike. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during the second strike. Following the engagements, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor. No U.S. military forces were harmed. @DeptofWar #OpSouthernSpear
Meanwhile, the lawless killing spree at sea continues.
“As former uniformed military lawyers who advised targeting operations, we know the presidents’ words run counter to decades of legal training of military personnel and risk placing our warfighters on a path of no return," write Margaret Donovan and Rachel VanLandingham
Absolutely! Right down to the on-location filming in midtown office buildings and around NYC. Brilliant writing. And Sydney Pollack is the best on-screen depiction of someone comfortable in his power -- and his role in society -- as I have ever seen.
Best film about big law, ever. Did a fun podcast about this film with @jonathanhafetz.bsky.social here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
Timely and important discussion w/ @becingber.bsky.social and @rgoodlaw.bsky.social.
So many law review articles and he just tweeted it out
International law professors, all the time👇
"They don’t like the word ‘war’ because you’re supposed to get approval."
Trump is acknowledging that his administration is playing semantic games to avoid obtaining congressional authorization for his war on Iran—authorization required by the US Constitution. 1/n
thehill.com/homenews/adm...
CHIEF JUSTICE TODD OPINION No. 3 WAP 2024 Appeal from the Order of the Superior Court entered June 13, 2023, at No. 1008 WDA 2021, Affirming the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County entered December 19, 2016, at No. CP-02-CR-0016878-2014. : : : : : : : : : : : ARGUED: October 8, 2024 DECIDED: MARCH 26, 2026 In this appeal by allowance, we granted allocatur to consider whether a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a felony murder conviction violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.1 For the reasons that follow, we determine that a mandatory life without parole sentence for all felony murder convictions, absent an assessment of culpability, is inconsistent with the protections bestowed upon our citizens
under the “cruel punishments” clause of our Commonwealth’s organic charter.2 Thus, we reverse the order of the Superior Court, vacate Appellant’s judgment of sentence, and remand for resentencing. However, as we have done under similar circumstances, we stay our order for 120 days to provide a reasonable amount of time for the General Assembly to consider remedial measures.
BREAKING: The PA Supreme Court holds that mandatory life without parole sentences for all "felony murder" convictions -- a sentence more than 1,000 people in PA are serving -- violates the state constitution's "cruel" punishment ban. This is GROUNDBREAKING: www.pacourts.us/assets/opini...
BREAKING: Judge Castel has issued a preservation order to DOJ and DHS regarding the ICE guidance about court-related enforcement and its applicability (or, as later asserted, not) to immigration "courts" after the U.S. Attorney's Office withdrew several court representations about that poliy.
Shocking facts. Assigned to Judge Castel, who ordered Rule 11 sanctions in the infamous Avianca case w/the hallucinated Chat GPT legal citations. Will be interested to see whether he orders a show cause to get to the bottom of this "agency attorney" misrepresentation.
A transformational shift in public opinion is happening in Germany, France, Canada and the UK, away from the US and towards China
www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
The Trump administration claims that asylum seekers can be turned away at the border without a hearing. A bipartisan group of senior former U.S. officials explain why that theory is wrong — and why the Supreme Court shouldn’t approve it:
www.justsecurity.org/134105/ameri...
We're looking to hire a new head of Career Services at Stanford Law School
Details here: careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/associa...
In Al Shimari v. CACI Premier Technology, Inc., the Fourth Circuit affirmed two Alien Tort Statute claims.
Read William S. Dodge’s full analysis in this x-publication w/our friends at Transnational Litigation Blog:
www.justsecurity.org/134045/fourt...
On 28 February 2026, the United States commenced combat operations to defend the American people against attacks and ongoing threats from the Islamic Republic of Iran, in cooperation with our ally Israel. These combat operations were undertaken to protect United States Armed Forces in the region, to ensure the free flow of maritime commerce through the Strait of Hormuz and to protect our regional allies and partners from Iran and its proxies. This is the latest stage in the ongoing international armed conflict that my Government previously addressed in a letter to this Council on 27 June 2025. The United States is taking these necessary and proportionate actions in exercise of the inherent right of self-defense as reflected in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. These combat operations are also being conducted in close cooperation with, and in the collective self-defense of, Israel. The Islamic Republic of Iran has rejected peaceful coexistence and chosen international armed conflict with Israel as well, waging an unprovoked religious war of annihilation against a once-friendly United Nations Member State located hundreds of miles distant from its borders. Since June 2025, the regime has also massively expanded its ballistic missile production for the purpose of overwhelming regional air defenses in order to provide a shield for its efforts to reconstitute its nuclear program, which it refuses to relinquish. Gaming the international legal system, the Iranian regime routinely seeks to conceal its unlawful acts and to shield itself from accountability by, among other things, deploying proxies such as Hamas, Hizballah and the Houthis. For example, in a letter dated 5 February 2024, my Government reported that the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its partners and proxies had attacked United States personnel and facilities in Syria and Iraq. That letter identified nine prior letters sent to this Council between 2021 and 2024, a period th…
NEW
Somewhat unexpectedly, the US government has submitted an Article 51 letter to the UNSC articulating the US int'l law justification for attacking Iran.
As someone who used to help draft these letters for the USG, I find the administration's legal arguments completely unconvincing. 1/n
Important reminder that the 90-91 Gulf War "coalition of the willing" built legitimacy thru a multilateral force with buy-in from regional states. In this PBS interview Baker explains the process leading up to cong. & UN authorization and final breakdown of talks w/Iraq. www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/f...
"The Iran War marks the second time in two months that Donald Trump decapitated a country without real legal justification. But is this any different from the many times that past U.S. presidents—and other great powers—have violated international law?"
Listen:
carnegieendowment.org/podcasts/the...
Honored to have the opportunity to speak to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights yesterday and to be quoted here.
Former Pentagon senior advisor @wesjbryant.bsky.social describes how Hegseth’s focus on lethality and dismissiveness towards “rules of engagement” puts human lives at risk: lnk.to/onthemedia/b...
RIP John Burns. One of the outstanding reporters of his generation.
(1) The accused declared, ordered, or otherwise indicated that there shall be no survivors or surrender accepted; (2) The accused thereby intended to threaten an adversary or to conduct hostilities such that there would be no survivors or surrender accepted; (3) It was foreseeable that circumstances would be such that a practicable and reasonable ability to accept surrender would exist; (4) The accused was in a position of effective command or control over the subordinate forces to which the declaration or order was directed; and (5) The conduct took place in the context of and was associated with hostilities.
✋ Former USG war crimes lawyer here.
Apropos of SecDef's remarks this morning:
Denial of quarter—even the declaration of no quarter—is a war crime.
And recognized as such by the US Government.
From DoD's Manual for Military Commissions.
President Trump is killing civilians at sea. This is illegal and immoral.
For some reason, thinking it might be good time to reread Fiasco, Tom Ricks brilliant book about the strategic miscalculations of the 2003 Iraq invasion. Highly recommend: www.amazon.com/Fiasco-Ameri...
