Tom Dannenbaum

A week in which two of the world’s most powerful states have intensified ongoing attacks on the rule of law
(offenses against the administration of justice)

🇺🇸
www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

🇷🇺
meduza.io/news/2025/12...

Does the United States Still Oppose Torture? The U.S. voted against the UNGA's torture resolution, breaking decades of consensus and raising questions about its human rights stance.

Would have been unthinkable before it happened-just one of a thousand bits of evidence that the architecture of what America has long thought of itself is rapidly imploding. 

www.justsecurity.org/126649/does-...

Vor drei Monaten haben wir Strafanzeigen gegen den sog. #GazaSniper gestellt. Zuvor hatten u.a. @papertrailmedia.de über den Fall berichtet. Deutschen Behörden ist der Verdacht seit über einem Jahr bekannt. Passiert ist dennoch kaum etwas - trotzdem selbst die UN Aufklärung gefordert hatte.

RSF massacres left Sudanese city ‘a slaughterhouse’, satellite images show Up to 150,000 residents of El Fasher are missing since North Darfur capital fell to paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

“The Sudanese city of El Fasher resembles a ‘massive crime scene’”…. “While the final death toll of the massacre remains unclear, British MPs have been briefed that at least 60,000 have been murdered in El Fasher.”

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

On left:

President Trump Statement Sept. 2, 2025:

"The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in international waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States."

On right:

(Under penalty of law) military leaders told Congress headed to Suriname.

I spoke to the New York Times in this great explainer piece by Charlie Savage

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...

Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors: An Expert Backgrounder An expert backgrounder on the reported Hegseth "no quarter" order to kill everyone aboard a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2.

Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors

An Expert Backgrounder by @mikeschmitt.bsky.social, @rgoodlaw.bsky.social and @tessbridgeman.bsky.social

www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...

Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime

It's good that Republicans acknowledge this was unlawful. But this framing is problematic. For one thing, it's not a war (or armed conflict), so it's not a "war crime." Moreover, even if there *were* an armed conflict against the (unnamed) cartel in question ... [1]

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/u...

A Dishonorable Strike Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder

A Dishonorable Strike
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder

www.execfunctions.org/p/a-dishonor...

Senator Kelly is correct.

Plus a Public Service Announcement:

KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.

The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."

• If the U.S. military operation to interdict and destroy suspected narcotraFicking vessels is a “non-international armed conflict,” as the Trump Administration suggests, orders to “kill everybody,” which can reasonably be regarded as an order to give “no quarter,” and to “double-tap” a target in order to kill survivors, are clearly illegal under international law. In short, they are war crimes. • If the U.S. military operation is not an armed conflict of any kind, these orders to kill helpless civilians clinging to the wreckage of a vessel our military destroyed would subject everyone from SECDEF down to the individual who pulled the trigger to prosecution under U.S. law for murder.

Highlighted sentence at the end of the document reads: Again, the bottom line is that, since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are “patently illegal,” anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.

Former US military lawyers speak out:

"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."

Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes

1/2

ICC 'in limbo' as chief prosecutor's fate uncertain ahead of member states assembly UN inquiry into allegations against Karim Khan missed October submission date with no explanation as key annual meeting by International Criminal Court's governing body due to begin

Important @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social article by Sondos Asem on the current investigation at the #ICC. Extensive quotes from @ezejim.bsky.social and @sevslv.bsky.social. www.middleeasteye.net/news/icc-lim...

Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.

Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing

"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."

Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social

The deadline to apply for the CISAC fellowship program is almost here! Make sure to have your applications in by December 3rd to be considered for the 2026-2027 academic year.
cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/cisac-fellow...

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Pentagon Investigates Misconduct Allegations Against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly The review comes after Kelly, a retired Navy captain, appeared in a video with other lawmakers telling military members not to obey unlawful orders.

Senator Kelly’s remarks in the video are “a 100% accurate representation of what the law says."

“No American citizen should have to deal with this type of preposterous investigation.”

- Professor Eugene Fidell, leading military justice expert in Wall Street Journal

www.wsj.com/politics/mar...

Please join me in calling on Harvard to revoke Summers' tenure: "It’s time Harvard fight for justice and protection for survivors and students, not predators and their accomplices" docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

As I shared with her "..it came very close to killing me to fight for just one high-net-worth individual to no longer have unfettered access to young women — already a pretty low bar — and meanwhile, he was just one person in an overall structure that seems designed to enable yet more of the same.”

Opinion | The Real Epstein Cover-Up

The Epstein/Summers emails made last week especially tough week for some of us - a reminder that serial offenders only survive within an enabling culture. @rlswrites.bsky.social gets it. Plse read & share her powerful piece @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/o...

"In practice, you are prohibited from banking in a large part of the planet” & "can no longer engage in online commerce”
"There are banks which, even if not 🇺🇸, close" your account
"payment systems are 🇺🇸" - Amex, Visa, Mastercard
"accounts w/ 🇺🇸 companies, like Amazon, Airbnb, PayPal, etc, are closed”

"The impact of the sanctions will largely depend on the mobilization of States.”

"For the ICC, it is a test of truth: who are its real defenders?”

"European authorities can implement the 'blocking statute’ … There is no more room for naivety."

La vie de Nicolas Guillou, juge français de la CPI sous sanctions des Etats-Unis : « Vous êtes interdit bancaire sur une bonne partie de la planète » Six juges et trois procureurs de la Cour pénale internationale ont été placés sous sanctions par l’administration Trump. Dans un entretien au « Monde », le magistrat raconte le poids de ces mesures su...

Le Monde has published an interview with French ICC judge Nicolas Guillou about the practicalities of being sanctioned by the US and the failure of states to stand up to this assault on the rule of law.
www.lemonde.fr/internationa...

A thread with some quotations:

The “Presumption of Regularity” in Trump Administration Litigation Comprehensive study of court cases involving Trump administration and the basis for courts no longer giving a "presumption of regularity."

We've updated our Study.

New stats (jaw-dropping imho):

1. DOJ noncompliance with court orders:

26 cases

2. Courts’ distrust of government information and representations:

Over 60 cases

3. Court findings of arbitrary and capricious government conduct:

68 cases

Top military lawyer raised legal concerns about boat strikes The lawyer at U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the operations against alleged drug-smuggling boats near Venezuela, disagreed that the strikes are legal and was overruled, according to six sources...

“The senior military lawyer for the combatant command overseeing lethal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats near Venezuela disagreed with the Trump administration’s position that the operations are lawful — and his views were sidelined” per 6 sources

www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...

Border officers detain well-known legal scholar travelling to conference on Palestine | CBC News A prominent academic and former UN special rapporteur says he was detained by customs agents in Toronto while on his way to speak at a conference on human rights violations against Palestinians.

Former UN special rapporteur Richard Falk was detained by 🇨🇦 customs agents and, for four hours, was asked a series of questions about his participation in the conference, his involvement in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and his position on Israel. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!

We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org

WE WON!!!

The US District Court for the Northern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction in AAUP et al v. Trump et al (the wall to wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of Title VI to reshape the University of California system.

Read the order here:

Trump Boat Bombings Take Dark, Unnerving Turn with Leaked Memo Stunner A new Trump administration memo argues that those carrying out the boat attacks can’t be prosecuted. Why? Because the administration says so!

Trump's illegal murders in the Caribbean just got worse. An internal DOJ memo on the bombings says the victims are waging war on the US, but per NYT, it extensively cites the WH's *own claims* to this effect as evidence!

It gets even darker than that. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2032...

Knight Institute Asks Court to Block Trump Administration From Deporting Foreign Citizens for Pro-Palestinian Advocacy

The court already ruled that Rubio and Noem are violating the First Amendment. Now we’re asking for remedies. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

ICC Judges amend the Regulations of the Court to regulate the classification of applications for arrest warrants or summons to appear The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted an amendment to the Regulations of the Court, which enters into force today. The new regulation 23 ter provides that applications for arres...

ICC judges have now codified a requirement that the OTP apply for arrest warrants / summons to appear under seal (reg. 23 ter):
www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-jud...
This was required on an ad hoc basis in the Palestine investigation & another case several months ago:
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/apr...