Even if it is not “slop”

A retired judge advocate outlines the difficulties of deciding who to prosecute for the illegal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.

It's more complicated than you'd imagine it should be!

"It's been a long time coming" (from Taylor Swift's "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince")

The U.S. military continues to commit murder under the false label and rationale of armed conflict. Why?

The U.S. military continues to commit murder under the false label and rationale of armed conflict. Why?

Sometimes the words themselves are war crimes or foreshadow war crimes to come

When lawyers are motivated to “get to yes,” their work is prone to bullshit (in the technical sense). And this OLC opinion is full of it.

Disobeying an unlawful command from the president to attack another nation is not a senior officer engaging in politics and subverting the role of civilian authority. It is a professional duty.

Without clear definitions, commanders risk issuing unlawful orders, and troops risk obeying them.

Trump acknowledges directing the CIA to covertly (irony abounds…) destroy a dock at a Venezuelan port …apparently because it was used to facilitate the drug trade he’s currently combating via drone st...

Only one year into Trump 2.0, the number of major repairs needed to recalibrate the Department of Defense and undo the damage wrought by Pete Hegseth’s management (a word I use loosely to describe his...

The U.S. military struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria against Islamic State on Friday, retaliating a week after two U.S. service members and one civilian were kil…

A mock operational legal review examining the legal basis for U.S. military operations targeted suspected drug traffickers.

Can a military lawyer offer a legal interpretation to his or her commander that contravenes the President's or Attorney General's? You would think the answer is "yes," but...

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A Political Allegory Bearing No Relation Whatsoever to Contemporary Events

Based on the facts presented by the Adminstration, the military was ordered by the President to commit murder. Full stop. And they did. An order to murder is a patently unlawful one, and therefore sh...

‘We’re going to take our capital back,’ Trump said

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would approve Florida’s plan to expedite deportations by having qualified National Guard members work as immigration judges.

Congress has a duty to precisely define the conditions that trigger a president’s emergency use of the military on American soil.

President adds three nuclear sites in Iran were attacked

A book review long overdue!

The Posse Comitatus Act restricts using federal troops in civilian law enforcement. Exceptions exist, but Trump's crackdown on immigration is shaping up to be a major test for the law.

President Trump prefers taunting, name-calling, and pejorative labels to characterize his disagreement with his opponents, whether a “heckler” at a political rally or a federal judge who ruled against...

Politics by Other Means will have 3 columns: "Civil Civics" (free to all), "Rational National Security" (paid subscribers), and "Courting the Law" (free)

This is absurd and wholly predictable. Lawfare, Tyler McBrien, The Washington Post, The New York Times, National Institute of Military Justice, Geoffrey…

Guidance from the Secretary of Defense: going forward, DOD components and military departments will not use official resources to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months.

The president delights in being attacked, since it keeps the focus on him. The press should handle him like parents with an ornery child

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.

United States Senate Committee on Armed Services

As a Fox News contributor, he persuaded Trump to intervene in the cases of three service members accused of crimes. Would he do it again as defense secretary?

Trump has said he wants to use active duty U.S. troops to quell protests and round up immigrants. Will the military comply?

President leaves military defendants on death row after commuting others. Three of them were convicted at Fort Liberty.

Military leaders have principled options to address a legally questionable political decision while maintaining the rule of law and civilian control.

Congress has the tools, but needs the will, to make pardons for battlefield misconduct harder for presidents to grant.

Authoritarians can't abide being mocked. Strategic mockery is thus important.