Terrorism

BigLaw associate is among those killed in Paris attacks

A 26-year-old associate at Hogan Lovells in Paris is among the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday. Valentin Ribet died in the attacks at the rock concert at the Bataclan concert hall, report Above the Law, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) and the Guardian. Eighty-nine people…

Nov 16, 2015 7:00 AM CST

DC Circuit stays judge’s decision blocking NSA collection of law firm’s phone records

A federal appeals court has temporarily stayed a federal judge’s order barring the National Security Agency from collecting phone data related to a California lawyer and his law firm. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit acted on Tuesday after government lawyers asserted it would take weeks to…

Nov 11, 2015 11:27 AM CST

Book: 4 federal lawyers OK’d raid in which Bin Laden was slain before consulting AG Eric Holder

Working in such secrecy that even the U.S. attorney general was not consulted until the attack was about to take place, four senior federal lawyers drafted legal memos approving in advance the fatal raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in 2011. To ensure that news of the planned…

Oct 29, 2015 12:45 PM CDT

In a first, US claims hacker’s actions provided material support to terrorists

The United States has charged a hacker in Malaysia with providing material support to ISIS by passing along stolen data about U.S. service members. Malaysian authorities have detained the suspect, Kosovo citizen Ardit Ferizi, on a U.S. provisional arrest warrant, report the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)…

Oct 16, 2015 7:21 AM CDT

Justice Department hires lawyer to fight domestic terrorism; sovereign citizens a key concern

The U.S. Justice Department has created a new position to coordinate domestic terrorism cases and identify ways to battle homegrown terrorists. John Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security, announced on Wednesday that the position was filled this week, report NBC News, the Hill and CBS News. His prepared…

Oct 14, 2015 1:18 PM CDT

ACLU sues 2 psychologists who ‘designed the torture methods’ used by CIA

Two former military psychologists who played a significant role in developing a U.S. interrogation program described by some opponents as tantamount to torture were never charged with any crime. But in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington state, the American Civil Liberties Union seeks to hold the…

Oct 14, 2015 12:20 PM CDT

Supreme Court will consider whether Iran reparations law violated separation of powers

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether Congress violated the Constitution when it allowed victims of Iran-sponsored terrorism to seize nearly $2 billion in assets, although their cases were still pending. The court agreed to hear the case on Thursday despite a brief by the U.S. solicitor general…

Oct 2, 2015 8:03 AM CDT

Strong Cities Network will foster collaboration to fight violent extremism, US attorney general says

Four U.S. municipalities are participating in a new group, the Strong Cities Network, which aims to fight violent extremism through international collaboration between cities. In an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch joined with other world leaders to announce the global network,…

Sep 30, 2015 7:16 AM CDT

Justice officials threatened mass resignation over retroactive approval of NSA program

Justice Department officials threatened mass resignation after President George W. Bush tried to retroactively approve bulk collection of purely domestic metadata for Americans’ phone calls and emails, according to papers disclosed in a lawsuit. The newly declassified information sheds new light on the hospital room showdown in which Attorney General…

Sep 21, 2015 11:16 AM CDT

14 years after Sept. 11 attacks, families of victims and others await justice

Fourteen years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the legal system is still dealing with those alleged to be responsible for the hijacked commercial airlines that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. (The fourth plane is thought to have been headed toward…

Sep 11, 2015 12:20 PM CDT

After UK kills citizens in Syria in drone strike, critics question policy

Four years after a U.S. killing of an American-born cleric in Yemen through a drone strike sparked concern and criticism, the U.K. is facing similar questions about the drone-strike deaths last month of two British men in Syria. The target, Reynaad Khan, 21, was said to be an Islamic State…

Sep 9, 2015 2:44 PM CDT

West Point law prof resigns after arguing pacifist legal scholars could be attacked by military

A professor in West Point’s law department has resigned after claiming in a legal treatise that some U.S. legal scholars are exhibiting “pernicious pacifism” that is helping ISIS undermine America from within. The law professor, William Bradford, argued that the legal scholars who criticize the war on terror are a…

Sep 1, 2015 8:33 AM CDT

Injunction against NSA phone records program is vacated by DC Circuit

A federal appeals court on Friday vacated a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone metadata, while allowing the plaintiff to try to prove standing on remand. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a suit by…

Aug 31, 2015 9:07 AM CDT

NY man convicted of use of WMD in plot to kill Muslims

An upstate New York man has been convicted of plotting to build a remote-controlled radiation device to kill Muslims. Glendon Scott Crawford, 51, was convicted Friday in federal court in Albany of use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to build and use a radiological dispersal device, Reuters…

Aug 24, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

Guantanamo lawyer’s concerns about cancer cluster are being investigated

A Guantanamo lawyer’s request for an investigation into cancer deaths among those working on detainee trials has gotten the attention of the U.S. Navy. Guantanamo base spokeswoman Kelly Wirfel said in a statement that the U.S. Navy is investigating “whatever steps may be necessary” to address concerns about possible carcinogens,…

Jul 28, 2015 10:59 AM CDT