Episode 75: I Hereby Demand, & Tomorrow Will Officially Order, That You Listen to This Podcast

Never a slow week in this business... This week we've got breakdowns and debates over some familiar topics: Military Commissions: The convoluted proceedings in the al-Nashiri prosecution became a bit less tangled this week, as the government backed off its attempt to preclude intervention by a pair of al-Nashiri's erstwhile attorneys.  Are we any closer to resolving the overall set of issues set off by claims of government monitoring of attorney-client communications though? Doe v. Mattis: We are now drawing close to a ruling on the merits of the government's claim of authority (under the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs) to use military detention with respect to a US citizen the government asserts is an Islamic State member. The issue has been fully-briefed for some time, in fact, and now Judge Chutkan has scheduled a hearing.  June 20th will be a big day. Al-Shimari v. Duggan/CACI: This Alien Tort Statute suit against a private military contractor for abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib has been around forever.  The latest?  A motion to dismiss based on the idea that the Supreme Court's recent Jesner v. Arab Bank ruling (precluding ATS liability for suits against foreign corporations involving conduct overseas) should be extended to domestic corporations for actions overseas.  Oral argument on June 15. GTMO habeas cases: We also note the unfolding litigation schedules for some key GTMO cases (yes, there still are some!), including Hamidullin's bid for en banc review of his request for POW status.  We also check in on the al-Alwi D.C. Circuit appeal and the various petitions grouped under al-Bihani. Trumplandia: We go deep on the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in relation to the exposure of the name of an FBI confidential informant who interacted with Trump Campaign members in 2016, and we also wrestle with the authority of a president to direct DOJ to open an investigation in a particular case. Admit it, though: You're tuning in this week for an extended debate over the criteria that define a "one-hit wonder," and to see whether your favorite songs made their good and bad one-hit lists.  The question you have to ask yourself is: What do you wanna do with your life?