Terrorism

Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein of New York dies at 92

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York died Wednesday at age 92.

Oct 29, 2026 9:49 AM CDT

UCLA chancellor criticized by law profs for responding to controversial 9/11 symposium

The UCLA chancellor is facing criticism from some law professors for voicing his concern that the law school hosted a 9/11 event featuring the lawyer of a terrorist mastermind.

Sep 23, 2026 10:01 AM CDT

Safe Strategies? 25 years after 9/11, some wonder whether the DOJ’s focus on preventing terrorism is compromised

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President George W. Bush and Congress quickly turned to boosting national security through executive orders and a speedy turnaround in passing laws intended to help fight terrorist threats and streamline intelligence-gathering. The USA Patriot Act, passed in October 2001, allowed intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Justice Department, to share information that had previously been siloed. The DOJ and the FBI, the entities responsible for enforcing federal law and ensuring public safety, shifted their resources and priorities to national security and terrorism prevention.

Sep 10, 2026 9:27 AM CDT

How post-9/11 pop culture helped push Americans to embrace torture

Historically, torture scenes in pop culture signaled villainy. James Bond villains devised elaborate death traps, Big Brother tried to break Winston Smith in 1984, and the bad guys in Star Wars and Star Trek tormented heroes like Han Solo and Captain Picard. Torture was a bright line only evildoers crossed. Even when torture scenes were parodied in Monty Python skits or in movies such as Dude, Where’s My Car? or Shrek, it was typically the antagonists doing it. Then 9/11 happened.

Sep 9, 2026 10:25 AM CDT

Opening Doors: Terrorism victims’ families find litigation relief thanks to post-9/11 laws

Twenty-five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks shook the nation, cases brought by the victims’ families are still working their way through federal courts. But there have been some notable victories for plaintiffs, especially since Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act in 2016 to significantly narrow foreign sovereign immunity.

Sep 9, 2026 9:19 AM CDT

Chemerinsky: The legal legacy of 9/11

The terrorist attack on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, had a profound lasting effect on our legal system and our society. As the first major foreign attack on American soil since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it caused a fundamental shift in law enforcement.

Sep 2, 2026 9:03 AM CDT

Lawyer arrested on charge he made terroristic threat against 16-year-old family member

A Texas attorney was released on a $10,000 bond following his arrest Saturday on a charge that he allegedly made a terroristic threat against a 16-year-old family member, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

Sep 1, 2026 9:41 AM CDT

Lessons at sea on international law motivated this retired Navy commander to become a law prof

David Glazier recalls that his friends and family all assumed that he would go to law school. He even applied to and was accepted to the University of Virginia School of Law “just to keep people off my back,” says Glazier, now a professor at the Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. But before he hit the books again, he wanted to have his fun, see the world and have adventures. So he joined the U.S. Navy. Law school could wait.

Aug 25, 2026 9:13 AM CDT

Wiped Clean: Is resetting your phone after being stopped by Border Patrol agents a federal offense?

The case appears to be a “major turning point in digital privacy law” as the U.S. Department of Justice tests a “completely novel legal theory by treating a native software security method as the criminal destruction of evidence,” says Kyle Courtney, a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, where he teaches cyber law and privacy.

Aug 12, 2026 2:50 PM CDT

DOJ dropped over 23K criminal investigations in shift to immigration

The U.S. Department of Justice closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second administration as it shifted its resources to immigration.

Mar 31, 2026 1:36 PM CDT

DOJ ‘more concerned with punishing’ perceived Trump enemies than public safety, fired prosecutor’s letter says

A letter taped to the door of an assistant U.S. attorney who was abruptly fired last week said a false social media post apparently led to his termination while he was in the middle of a terrorism prosecution.

Oct 8, 2025 9:04 AM CDT

Defense attorney accused of helping smuggle drugs to client in gang RICO case involving rapper

A criminal indictment was filed Monday against a Georgia attorney who represented a defendant in a RICO case involving the Young Slime Life gang and Atlanta rapper Young Thug.

Jul 22, 2025 11:40 AM CDT

Barrett joins liberal dissent questioning SCOTUS venue decision that ends case before judge deemed ‘lunatic’ by Trump

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday lifted a temporary restraining order that banned the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members, ruling that the legal challenge should have been filed in Texas, rather than Washington, D.C.

Apr 8, 2025 11:52 AM CDT

DOJ opposes court-ordered return of immigrant, suspends lawyer who said he shouldn’t have been deported

Updated: The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a federal judge’s order to return an immigrant mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador in Central America—a move that followed the department’s decision to place one of its lawyers on indefinite leave, apparently for his admissions in the case.

Apr 7, 2025 2:23 PM CDT

Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege for deportation flights, disputes Nazi analogy

Government lawyers are arguing that the state secrets privilege protects the Trump administration from divulging details about deportation flights to El Salvador in Central America, and that the Venezuelans aboard weren’t entitled to notice that would give them time for a hearing.

Mar 25, 2025 11:02 AM CDT