Episode 8: March Madness

Episode 8 (about 58 minutes long) finds Professors Vladeck and Chesney discussing the legal, policy, and institutional issues raised by reports that President Trump has authorized CIA to resume control of drone operations in some circumstances, and that he also has added certain parts of Yemen and Somalia to the current list of zones of active hostilities.  They also provide an update on litigation relating to the revised refugee/travel executive order.  In addition, they take up the topic of "proxy detention" of terrorism suspects, fleshing out the concept and its legal implications.  From there they talk about a recent jury conviction of an al Qaeda member, a person whose circumstances might have left him prosecuted instead by a military commission had he been captured earlier (and had Italy not insisted on precluding such a result, as a condition of extraditing the defendant).  Last but not least, they note (but don't get terribly exercised by) the release of security-related materials from Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's time at DOJ, and then they wrap up with predictions about the NCAA tournament that almost certainly will prove to be wildly off.