Benjamin Farley
@brfarley
International law, law of armed conflict, national security law and policy, constitutional and criminal law.
This whitewash of extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and Pacific is a predictable consequence of the U.S. (1) redefinition of crime as terrorism, terrorism as war; and (2) expansive, post-9/11 redefinition of individual belligerency. theintercept.com/2026/08/11/w...
Turned out quite well! Serving with egg noodles in a butter parsley sauce, and some pesto white beans from the NYT
Gemini thinks I (a) am still defense counsel for a military commission defendant (not since 2021, my dude); and (b) worked on the Nashiri case (never, bruh)
NYT doing to NoKings what the entirety of the media did to OWS in that subtitle. Question efficacy, then coherence, and then ignore as a purposeless tantrum of unknowable grievance despite evidence.
I'm no fiscal law expert but Trump's memo that purports to direct payment of TSA agents cites only one "authority"--31 USC 1301(a)--which is no authority at all. It appears to be a limitation on rather than a license to expend funds:
Notwithstanding the NYT’s inclusion of this proviso—and acknowledging that I’ve not kept up with the IR/polisci literature on this topic in recent years—I don’t believe that research supports the supposed fear of cascading secession across Africa.
Huge decision on the shadow docket from SCOTUS concerning the circumstances in which the President may federalize the national guard and deploy them domestically.
I had suspected that SecDef's repeated references to "drug traveling routes" in announcing strikes reflected the adoption of (or part of) the GWOT targeting framework, which sometimes ascribed al-Qaeda membership on the basis of 'traveling along routes know to be used by AQ'--at least in part.
The transposition of the targeting framework from the GWOT to this campaign is deeply problematic. Not only is there no armed conflict between the United States & cartels but the GWOT framework itself departed from historical U.S. approaches, was too liberal, and likely contributed to mistakes.
Oh my God. Shipwrecked and either gesturing for rescue or attempting to surrender? This story is trending toward atrocity.
Short of landing on a desert island, it’s hard to conjure a more quintessential image of “shipwreck” than survivors repeatedly clambering onto and slipping off a capsized hull.
Judge Cobb takes a skeptical eye to the Executive Branch's invention of an inherent protective power based on an . . . overreading . . . of two unusual, old cases. Hear, hear.
On the other site, Kaitlin Collins is reporting that President Trump posted on his social media site that the United States struck another boat in international waters.
One angrily asked to be thanked for protecting my neighborhood from “criminals” and accused me of interfering with an investigation by asking questions. 9th & Sheridan NW, Washington DC.
Reading this decision--and, especially--the dissent really drives home the deleterious consequences of an impoverished understanding of international law (and the history it forces one to learn) among the American bar.