Terrorism

Man charged with supplying guns to San Bernardino attackers signed rights waivers multiple times

The California man charged on Thursday with supplying the assault rifles used in the San Bernardino attacks spent 11 days being questioned in federal custody. Enrique Marquez signed of waiver of his right to remain silent and his right to a lawyer each day of questioning, the New York Times…

Dec 18, 2015 7:25 AM CST

Law prof proposes law to shut down ISIS recruitment online; is it constitutional?

Donald Trump’s search for “brilliant people” to help him close the Internet to ISIS could extend to University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner, who proposes a new law to clamp down on ISIS recruitment. The law—which is likely unconstitutional under modern precedent—would make it a crime to access websites…

Dec 17, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Texas agency sues to block Syrian refugees, cites state’s ‘sovereign authority’ to protect residents

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has filed a federal lawsuit in a bid to block the resettlement of six Syrian refugees in Dallas. The suit against the federal government and the nonprofit International Rescue Committee says resettlement of the refugees raises “reasonable concerns about the safety and security…

Dec 3, 2015 9:45 AM CST

Lawyers for convicted Boston bomber argue that SCOTUS decision taints death sentence

Lawyers for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a bid to obtain a new capital sentencing hearing. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. heard the lawyers’ arguments on the sentencing issue on Tuesday, report the Boston Globe and Fox News. Defense…

Dec 2, 2015 10:58 AM CST

Former Internet provider can finally reveal what the FBI wanted to know in 2004, judge rules

After 11 years of litigation, the onetime owner of an Internet company can finally reveal what kind of information the FBI had sought about one of his customers. A federal judge has lifted a gag order that had prevented Nicholas Merrill from revealing the contents of the national security letter…

Dec 1, 2015 12:52 PM CST

Thousands mourn human rights lawyer killed during a press conference in Turkey

Thousands of people attended a funeral on Sunday for a Kurdish human rights lawyer fatally shot during a press conference in Turkey. Lawyer Tahir Elci had led the Diyarbakir Bar Association, and officials with the group said he was the target of the Saturday attack, the Associated Press reports. Others…

Nov 30, 2015 8:51 AM CST

2nd Circuit rules Justice Department doesn’t have to disclose additional drone-strike memos

The U.S. Justice Department doesn’t have to disclose about 10 documents regarding the legal basis for targeted drone killings of noncitizens overseas, a federal appeals court has ruled. The October decision by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was unsealed on Monday, report the New York Times…

Nov 24, 2015 10:25 AM CST

Belgium authorities ask for Internet silence on police ops; Twitterverse responds with cat memes

Concerned that social media messages could alert suspects in Brussels, where police have been conducting sweeps for possible terrorists linked to recent Paris attacks, authorities in Belgium asked the country’s citizens and news media to refrain from tweets and Internet posts about raids. Over the weekend, defense minister Steven Vandeput…

Nov 23, 2015 4:05 PM CST

Corporate BigLaw partner held hostage at luxury hotel in Mali is safe

A corporate partner at a Canadian BigLaw firm is safe after being held hostage at a luxury hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali, on Friday. Pierre Boivin of McCarthy Tetrault and other Canadians known to have been in the Radisson hotel as it was stormed by Islamic extremists armed…

Nov 23, 2015 11:50 AM CST

Lawyers for accused leader of Benghazi attacks seek sanction for alleged illegal interrogation

Lawyers for a man accused of leading the attacks on the U.S. embassy compound in Benghazi, Libya, contend that his interrogation while on a U.S. Navy ship violated his right to due process. Assistant Federal Defender Mary Petras told a federal judge on Thursday that her client, Ahmed Abu Khattala,…

Nov 20, 2015 10:15 AM CST

BigLaw associate is among those killed in Paris attacks

A 26-year-old associate at Hogan Lovells in Paris is among the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday. Valentin Ribet died in the attacks at the rock concert at the Bataclan concert hall, report Above the Law, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) and the Guardian. Eighty-nine people…

Nov 16, 2015 7:00 AM CST

DC Circuit stays judge’s decision blocking NSA collection of law firm’s phone records

A federal appeals court has temporarily stayed a federal judge’s order barring the National Security Agency from collecting phone data related to a California lawyer and his law firm. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit acted on Tuesday after government lawyers asserted it would take weeks to…

Nov 11, 2015 11:27 AM CST

Book: 4 federal lawyers OK’d raid in which Bin Laden was slain before consulting AG Eric Holder

Working in such secrecy that even the U.S. attorney general was not consulted until the attack was about to take place, four senior federal lawyers drafted legal memos approving in advance the fatal raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in 2011. To ensure that news of the planned…

Oct 29, 2015 12:45 PM CDT

In a first, US claims hacker’s actions provided material support to terrorists

The United States has charged a hacker in Malaysia with providing material support to ISIS by passing along stolen data about U.S. service members. Malaysian authorities have detained the suspect, Kosovo citizen Ardit Ferizi, on a U.S. provisional arrest warrant, report the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)…

Oct 16, 2015 7:21 AM CDT

Justice Department hires lawyer to fight domestic terrorism; sovereign citizens a key concern

The U.S. Justice Department has created a new position to coordinate domestic terrorism cases and identify ways to battle homegrown terrorists. John Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security, announced on Wednesday that the position was filled this week, report NBC News, the Hill and CBS News. His prepared…

Oct 14, 2015 1:18 PM CDT