It’s been a busy week in national security law! In Episode 43, Professor Bobby Chesney and I take on:
- Mueller-Time: Indictments against Manafort and Gates, and an even-more important plea deal.
- ACLU v. Mattis and the government’s filing in opposition to an order to show cause why ACLU should not get access to the US citizen held as an enemy combatant in Iraq.
- A new Benghazi case: United States v. Mustafa al-Imam, captured by US forces in Libya (with Libyan government permission/involvement) and now en route (slowly, presumably) back to US for civilian criminal prosecution.
- A quick note on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s hearing yesterday on AUMF issues (plus a related note on the federal statute — 18 USC 130f — that requires notification to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees when the military conducts (or supports a foreign partner on) a kill/capture mission outside a zone of active hostilities).
- The blow-up in the al Nashiri military commission, with the commission judge threatening contempt if the would-be-former defense attorneys do not show for a hearing on whether their ethical objections genuinely require withdrawal
All that, plus slick baseballs undermining sliders at the World Series!