Writing in the New York Times, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton argued that President Donald Trump’s decision to kill Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was legally justified in three ways: under Article II of the Constitution, the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force aimed at those responsible for the September 11 attacks, and the 2002 Authorization [...]

One of the underlying rationales of the UN Charter, as highlighted in its preamble, is to ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind’. Any obvious statement in regards to Iran’s immediate reaction would be immature; however, it can be reasonably established that [...]

On 03 January, the US launched a drone strike against the Iranian defence chief Qasem Soleimani. The strike occurred while Soleimani was in Iraq and it killed both the general and a number of other personnel in the area, including Iraqis. The event raises questions that touch on various aspects of international law. For example, there is the [...]

Between elections, the fallacy that one can not criminally prosecute a sitting President leads us to a situation where the only recognized path to address alleged Presidential criminality during their term is impeachment. The prognosticators now tell us that the House will vote to impeach President Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress [...]

The coming invigoration of the non-delegation doctrine, long-declared dead, is now nearly certain. In a recent statement, Justice Kavanaugh signaled his interest in revisiting the long-dormant doctrine in a future case. But, while Justice Kavanaugh’s statement all but confirms that the Court will breathe life into the non-delegation doctrine sometime soon, questions still remain about [...]

Myths, often ancient traditional stories that are designed to prescribe moral or traditional values, are fantastical but also highly rational. That is because myths describe a commonly manifested belief on the way we view the world. In 1992, Professor Jane Rutherford utilised the myth of Robin Hood in order to make a point about the [...]

Americans love to pretend that the Constitution is a legal document. Of course, it’s nothing of the sort. At best, it’s a restatement of an imaginary common ideology, a Rorschach card onto which we project our vision of the ideal legal order. The Constitution enables us to resolve political problems by magically transforming them into [...]

Suppose someone posts a message on social media suggesting he might shoot up a movie theatre, and punctuates the point with a photo in which he is holding an AK-47-style rifle. Can the government temporarily confiscate the person’s firearms, in order to ensure that he does not pose a threat to himself or members of [...]

Impeachment has always been a combustible mix of constitutional law and constitutional politics, but the way in which impeachment integrates law and politics has evolved from the framing of the Constitution to the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century and may be further evolving at present. The framers designed an impeachment system that would [...]

The last few days have been very tense. Everyone had the same question on their mind: will the Supreme Court of Pakistan allow General Qamar Javed Bajwa to remain as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) as the expiry of his term and his retirement loomed ever closer on 28th November 2019 and the notification [...]