By Jonathan Abrams, NSJ Staff Editor, HLS 2012 On October 27th, the Ninth Circuit granted en banc review to an important case involving the “state secrets” privilege. The case, Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., 579 F.3d 943 (9th Cir. 2009), involves a lawsuit brought by five foreign nationals who claim they were part of the […]
NSJ Analysis: House Judiciary Committee Passes PATRIOT Act Reauthorization
By NSJ Staff Writer The House Judiciary Committee recently voted to reauthorize certain expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act as part of the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009. The bill, H.R. 3845, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, proposes privacy protections that in many respects go beyond those included in the bill that recently passed […]
NSJ Analysis: Fort Hood Shooting Ripe for Controversy
By NSJ Staff Writer The November 8th shootings at Ft. Hood are less than a week old, and yet investigators and pundits are already interpreting what they see to be their deep-seated meaning. Officially, after two days of investigation, the FBI and the Army Criminal Investigation Command have come to the tentative conclusion that the […]
HLS Hosted Panel of Cybersecurity Experts Discuss Cyberterrorist Threat
By Mat Trachok, HLS 2012 NSJ Staff Writer What exactly is the nature of the cyberterrorist threat? How realistic is the prospect of nation-to-nation cyberwarfare? How should the government respond to and protect against such threats? What role should the law play in fighting cyberterrorism? On Wednesday, October 28th, the Harvard Law School National Security […]
UK High Court Orders Disclosure of Torture Allegation Materials
By Mary Ostberg, HLS 2012 NSJ Staff Writer On Friday, October 16, 2009, the United Kingdom’s High Court ruled that seven paragraphs of UK-U.S. exchanges detailing the alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed should be disclosed. In reversing its 2008 ruling, the High Court called the public interest in disclosing the paragraphs “overwhelming.” Mr. Mohamed, a […]
Senate Approves Transfer of Guantanamo Detainees for Trial; Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Kiyemba v. Obama
By NSJ Staff Writer The Obama Administration is one step closer to achieving its goal of closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by January 22, 2010. On Tuesday, October 20, 2009, the Senate, by a vote of 79 to 19, passed the $44.1 billion budget for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes a […]