Anthony Clark Arend

Bobby Chesney brings to our attention 6 OLC memos that were posted on the OLC website yesterday:

“PROTECTED PERSON” STATUS IN OCCUPIED IRAQ UNDER THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION (March 18, 2004) (added 1/08/09)
STATUS OF TALIBAN FORCES UNDER ARTICLE 4 OF THE THIRD GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949 (February 7, 2002) (added 1/08/09)
AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT UNDER DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL …

Late Thursday evening, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1860. The vote was 14 in favor, with the United States abstaining. The Resolution provides:

“The Security Council,
“Recalling all of its relevant resolutions, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003) and 1850 (2008),
“Stressing that the Gaza Strip constitutes an integral part of the territory occupied in 1967 and will …

From SCOTUSblog:
Voicing some concern over the government creating a “black hole” for detainees in a “law-free zone” at an overseas military base, a federal judge hinted on Wednesday that he may allow some of the prisoners the U.S. holds in Afghanistan to file court cases to test their captivity.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates strongly implied that he thought some …

A very positive series of appointments. The New York Times reports:
President-elect Barack Obama reached back to the Clinton administration again Monday to fill four top Justice Department posts with lawyers whose records signal a sharp break from the legal policies of the last eight years.
Mr. Obama said he would nominate David W. Ogden, a Washington lawyer in private practice, as …

UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler (a former student, I am honored to note) has a very enlightening piece over at The Huffingtonpost on the consequences of D.C. v. Heller. Winkler reports:
To date, the lower federal courts have ruled in over 60 different cases on the constitutionality of a wide variety of gun control laws. There have been suits against laws …

As is tradition, Pope Benedict XVI issued his World Day of Peace Message. I post the message in its entirety here:

1. Once again, as the new year begins, I want to extend good wishes for peace to people everywhere. With this Message I would like to propose a reflection on the theme: Fighting Poverty to Build Peace. Back in 1993, …

My friend and Georgetown colleague, Robert J. Lieber, has an extremely thoughtful op ed in today’s Washington Post on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. He offers “four hard truths” about the conflict:
First, despite the tragic deaths of civilians, Israeli’s airstrikes have been precisely aimed at Hamas fighters, installations and rocket launchers. Inevitably, the use of force causes injury and …

From SCOTUSblog:
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ruled on Tuesday that two Guantanam Bay detainees — nationals of Yemen and Tunisia — must remain prisoners of the U.S. military, finding that the government has proved that each is an “enemy combatant.”  In the most significant of the two separate rulings, the judge concluded that the government does not have to …