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Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and a member of the National Advisory Board of Veterans for Peace.Her most recent book is Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues. See http://marjoriecohn.com/ . .
(3 comments) SHARE Sunday, August 25, 2019 Human Rights and Global Wrongs
Donald Trump reportedly told several of his advisers that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should bar Tlaib and Omar because they supported BDS. Hours after Israel cancelled the trip, Trump tweeted, "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people."
(5 comments) SHARE Friday, February 9, 2018 Pentagon to Allow Nuclear Responses to Non-Nuclear Attacks
The new NPR states that the United States could use nuclear weapons in response to non-nuclear attacks, including cyberattacks, in "extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States, its allies and partners." This new strategy opens the door to first-use of nuclear weapons, which is prohibited under international law.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, November 8, 2019 Trump's Order to Defy Subpoenas Is Itself Grounds for Impeachment
Trump has ordered all of his current and former senior advisers to defy congressional subpoenas to testify in the impeachment inquiry. Trump is claiming the subpoenaed witnesses have "absolute immunity" against civil or criminal liability for refusal to provide testimony. However, "absolute immunity" is a creation of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel. No court, statute or constitution has ever recognized it.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, November 4, 2018 Trump's Judges Imperil Our Rights for Decades
In less than two years as president, Donald Trump has already put two radical right-wing justices on the Supreme Court, cementing a conservative majority on the Court for decades. He has also placed 29 right-wing judges on the federal circuit courts of appeals with more in the works by the end of the year. These judicial appointments threaten to endanger our rights for years to come.
(14 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 5, 2015 Netanyahu's False Narrative
As members of the U.S. Congress bobbed up and down with applause, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spun a tale of brave little Israel fretting about its survival, but he left out the fact that Israel has a large arsenal of nuclear weapons and has often been the one to invade its neighbors, as Marjorie Cohn recalls.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, February 17, 2020 Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent
The Trump administration is seeking extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States for trial on charges carrying 175 years in prison. On February 24, a court in the U.K. will hold a hearing to determine whether to grant Trump's request.
(12 comments) SHARE Monday, May 14, 2012 Mitt Romney, the Bully
As a privileged preppy, Mitt Romney enjoyed humiliating suspected gays and other vulnerable people. But his bullying didn't stop when he grew older. Instead, he applied similar tactics to make a fortune as a corporate raider.
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, January 11, 2019 If Trump Declares a National Emergency, He'll Be Breaking the Law
Congress refuses to enact legislation containing the nearly $6 billion that Donald Trump is demanding for an unnecessary wall on the southern US border. In response, Trump is considering whether to declare a national emergency, take money Congress has appropriated for other purposes, and divert it to build his wall.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 13, 2019 Civil Rights Are on the Chopping Block in New Supreme Court Term
As the Court moves increasingly to the right with the recent additions of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, we can expect the continued evisceration of civil rights and civil liberties. The Court has failed to protect the right to vote by declining to strike down partisan gerrymandering. The importance of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's continued vitality cannot be underestimated.
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 15, 2019 Supreme Court Ruling on Census Could Deal Grave Blow to Democracy
During oral arguments in the Supreme Court in April, the conservative justices seemed inclined to uphold the citizenship question. But the Court was presented with evidence of a cover-up of the illegal racist motive for adding the citizenship question. The census citizenship question and concomitant partisan gerrymandering by the GOP pose additional threats to the right to vote, and indeed, to democracy itself.
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, November 19, 2018 Trump's Military Deployment to the US-Mexico Border Is Illegal
The Posse Comitatus Act forbids the use of the military to enforce domestic US laws, including immigration laws. For this reason, Trump's decision to deploy the military to the border to enforce US immigration law against thousands of desperate migrants from Central America -- who have undertaken the perilous journey over 1,000 miles through Mexico to the US border in order to apply for asylum -- is an unlawful order.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, November 17, 2017 US Military and CIA Leaders May Be Investigated for War Crimes
If a full investigation of US officials proceeds as requested, it "would send a clear signal to the Trump administration and other countries around the world that torture is categorically prohibited, even in times of war, and there will be consequences for authorizing and committing acts of torture," according to Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program.
(14 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 16, 2014 Giving the Torturers a Pass
During Watergate, senior U.S. officials went to jail for lying and obstructing justice. Many politicians have gone to prison for taking bribes and for corruption. But it's somehow unthinkable to prosecute Bush administration officials implicated in torture and murder, an attitude that Marjorie Cohn rejects.
SHARE Friday, November 22, 2019 Trump's New Policy on Israeli Settlements Is Illegal and Self-Serving
Thumbing his nose at the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, Donald Trump decided that Israel's unlawful construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory is lawful.
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, September 19, 2016 Fifteen Years After 9/11, Perpetual "War on Terror" Continues Unabated
It is up to all of us to speak out, write and protest against endless war. That means pressuring Congress and the White House, holding demonstrations and inserting our opposition into the media and public debate. Our very survival depends on it.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, August 10, 2013 The Struggle Continues: Seeking Compensation for Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims, 52 years on
Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare program in Vietnam, a long time with NO sufficient remedial action by the U.S. government. One of the most shameful legacies of the American War against Vietnam, Agent Orange continues to poison Vietnam and the people exposed to the chemicals, as well as their offspring.
(9 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 5, 2018 In Unanimous Vote, House Says No Legal Right to Attack Iran
The Constitution only grants Congress the power to declare war. And the War Powers Resolution allows the president to introduce US Armed Forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities only after Congress has declared war, or in "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces," or when there is "specific statutory authorization."
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, January 6, 2020 Trump Threatens War Crimes Against Iran. Congress Must Stop Him.
Trump has already committed the crime of aggression against Iran, and he is now threatening to commit a war crime if he carries through on his January 4 promise to target Iran's cultural sites.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, September 30, 2017 Trump Threatens Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea
By threatening to attack North Korea, Trump is endangering the lives of countless people. In the past, he has indicated his willingness to use nuclear weapons and Kim Jong-un has threatened to retaliate. The rapidly escalating rhetoric and provocative maneuvers on both sides has taken us to the brink of war. By stating the intention to totally destroy North Korea, Trump has threatened genocide.
(8 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 27, 2019 Mueller Should Have Subpoenaed Trump
The Mueller team found "substantial evidence" of the elements required to convict Trump of obstruction of justice. But, constrained by a Justice Department rule forbidding the indictment of a sitting president, Mueller's report did not conclude whether Trump actually committed the crime.