Most judges and lawyers agree that the war on drugs in the past 50 years has seriously diminished the right to privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. Now a small group of legal academics is arguing that the war in Ukraine should be used to diminish property...
Is Putin a War Criminal?
President Joseph R. Biden caused a stir in the media last week when he called Russian President Vladimir Putin "a war criminal." Biden's statement was apparently made to capitalize on the government's and the American media's monolithic anti-Russian...
Sanctions on Russia Violate the Constitution
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has undertaken a vast scheme against Russian economic actors, which it characterizes as "sanctions." The scheme consists in seizing assets, freezing assets, and prohibiting lawful and...
The Torturers’ Apprentice
Last week, a bitterly divided Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by a detainee at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba against the Department of Justice because the government claimed the information sought in the case was a state secret, the revelation...
Military Torturers at Guantanamo Bay
After a jury in 2006 declined to impose the death penalty on Zacarias Moussaoui, who had just pleaded guilty to being the 20th 9/11 hijacker, the government announced that another person was the 20th. Yet, that person, Mohammed al-Qahtani, was ordered released from...
CIA Spies and Their Collaborators
In the past month, this column has twice addressed the unbridled propensity of federal intelligence agencies to spy on Americans without search warrants as required by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These agencies believe that the Fourth Amendment –...
Allowing the FBI To Use Pegasus Spyware Is an Attack on Liberty
Three weeks ago, this column reported on warnings issued by the Biden administration about the dangers of spyware. Spyware is software that permits the user to hack a computer unseen, unheard and undetected. The manufacturer of the warned-about spyware is an Israeli...
More Presidential Killings
Secretly and quietly, the Biden administration has continued to use the killing machine crafted by President George W. Bush, expanded by President Barack Obama and employed from time to time by President Donald Trump. These presidents have used drones and other...
What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws?
Americans live under a governmental regime that openly breaks its own laws. The government not only believes it can do whatever it can get away with politically, not only believes that it can torture its foreign foes and claim the torture is a state secret, not only...
The Government Lies About Its Secrets
Recently, this column offered a critical analysis of the state secrets privilege. Last week, the government twice brought it to new lows. Here is the backstory. A legal privilege is the ability of a party in litigation to keep a communication from the court and one's...


