International law experts say the Trump administration’s legal justification for US strikes against suspected drug boats doesn’t hold up. Thanks again to @becingber.bsky.social @bcfinucane.bsky.social @mikeschmitt.bsky.social theworld.org/segments/202...

Pleased to speak with @theworld.org about the legal implications of the lethal U.S. strikes in the Caribbean, and especially to be featured alongside @becingber.bsky.social. The U.S. president is asserting a license to kill outside the law. theworld.org/segments/202...

What that former gov official who thinks international doesn't matter might be missing: the USG's own legal theory for why murder statutes and other prohibitions on killing people permit certain uses of force is that there is an exception for <checks notes> LAWFUL killing under the int'l law of war

It's worth examining this alongside the 2001 AUMF authorizing force against al Qaeda. Note the 2001 explicit tie to the actual armed attacks of 9/11. And note the lack of any tie to an armed attack in the proposal to give POTUS power to wage war against drug cartels and nations he claims harbor them

Just the Veep repeating the President of the United States’ jokes that we are inflicting such terror on people that they are afraid to continue their very livelihoods (and in violation of international law)

Just going to leave this here 👀 “There has to be a line between crime and war,” said JOHN YOO. “We can’t just consider anything that harms the country to be a matter for the military. Because that could potentially include every crime.”

How about one for reading the news.

Read top expert analysis (and listen to/watch our podcast) on the lethal strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean here 👇 www.justsecurity.org/120753/colle...

President Trump today: “We knocked off, actually, three boats, not two, but you saw two.” Podcast discussion about this new policy by top experts ⤵️ @tessbridgeman.bsky.social @bcfinucane.bsky.social @becingber.bsky.social www.buzzsprout.com/2074610/epis...

The lethal U.S. strike in the Caribbean that killed 11 people doesn’t fit the counterterrorism justification, writes @bcfinucane.bsky.social. The lack of legal basis suggests the Trump administration may be asserting a prerogative to kill outside the law:

Donald Trump just blew up another boat in the middle of the ocean with no legal justification. I'm drafting a resolution and forcing a vote to reclaim Congress’s power to declare war. Before Trump’s actions provoke one.

"We seem to be on a normative slippery slope that endangers the very values the right to use force in self-defense is meant to protect ... and sets precedents that other States are likely to exploit for their own purposes." Re-upping this excellent piece by @mikeschmitt.bsky.social

“When they come by land we’re going to be stopping them the same way we stopped the boats.” The President of the United States threatening to use force on another state’s territory to summarily execute people of suspected crimes. —Adding a violation of the UN Charter to the mix.

This clip cuts off but he says next: “When they come by land we’re going to be stopping them the same way we stopped the boats.” x.com/RapidRespons...

The premeditated killing of people for suspected crimes is illegal under any standard of law. Under international law, this is called an extrajudicial killing. Under U.S. statutes, it's called murder. @tessbridgeman.bsky.social, @bcfinucane.bsky.social and I broke it all down for you here:

The President has now announced he’s struck a second boat —

This

It remains absolutely shocking that the president is summarily executing suspected criminals even though he told us he was going to keep doing it: bsky.app/profile/beci...

Another US strike on a vessel alleged to be smuggling drugs in the Caribbean. Once again, the specific entity and individuals targeted are not identified—simply labelled as "terrorists." 1/n

“I will never visit the United States again.” It is heartbreaking to watch one’s country turn itself into a pariah state.

I spoke with Legal Face Off about the President’s boat strike / summary execution on the high seas —

Attention is power. @becingber.bsky.social warns that shrugging off presidential actions lets history repeat. GWOT years show pushback works. www.youtube.com/shorts/wLE1W... Full episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMI...

On Rational Security, @sranderson.bsky.social, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, @nkorpett.bsky.social, and @becingber.bsky.social to talk through the week’s big national security news, including Russian armed drones entering Polish airspace, the Trump admin's strike on a Venezuelan boat, and more.

NEW: The war powers report on Trump's attack on a suspected drug trafficking vessel in the Caribbean last week is included in our @rcls-nyu.bsky.social War Powers Reporting Project searchable database and included here: warpowers.lawandsecurity.org/reports/2025...

It’s never good news when this group’s expertise is making the podcast waves but I was honored to speak with @tessbridgeman.bsky.social and @bcfinucane.bsky.social for the @justsecurity.org podcast this week on the President’s air strike on people he alleges were smuggling drugs at sea—

Murder on the High Seas? What You Need to Know about the U.S. Strike on the Caribbean Vessel @becingber.bsky.social & @bcfinucane.bsky.social join @tessbridgeman.bsky.social to unpack the attack, the Trump admin’s limited justification, and what to expect next.  www.buzzsprout.com/2074610/epis...

The final part of our AJIL Unbound series on reparations is now available online. Read "What Can International Law Repair?" now! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Among so many other things, imagine the national security policy value of this vs the natsec value of spending a tiny tiny fraction of this cost for usaid. Staggering self own.

Apropos of nothing, this is the UN Charter, Article 2(4) prohibition on the threat or use of force against other states

I know people are overwhelmed by too much news from every angle, and maybe people are distracted by the "terrorist" language, or just plain exhausted. But this is the President of the United States saying he is going to go around killing people because he thinks they're criminals. And already did.

Our @rcls-nyu.bsky.social senior fellow, Prof @becingber.bsky.social, provided a deep dive on the Lawfare Daily Podcast: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

Critical analysis on the USG war powers report and justification for the boat strike:

Ingrid and I issued the following statement in the just-released issue of @ajil.bsky.social. A travesty that it has to be said.

I spoke with the @lawfaremedia.org crew about the legal implications of the U.S. President summarily killing people he claims to be criminals via airstrike at sea:

On Lawfare Daily, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, @sranderson.bsky.social, and @becingber.bsky.social discuss the U.S. strike on an alleged “drug boat” traveling from Venezuela, the president’s authority to use lethal force outside of war, and more.

“It’s difficult to imagine how any lawyers inside the Pentagon could have arrived at a conclusion that this was legal rather than the very definition of murder under international law rules that the Defense Department has long accepted” @rgoodlaw.bsky.social

I joined the @lawfaremedia.org gang today to discuss the legal implications of the U.S. “drug boat” strike. Thanks to @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org and @sranderson.bsky.social for having me on —

TODAY at 2:30 pm ET, join @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, @sranderson.bsky.social, and @becingber.bsky.social for a live discussion of the U.S. strike on an alleged “drug boat” in Venezuela, the gathering of U.S. troops and warships in the Caribbean, and more. youtube.com/live/N5LVn-8...

“this is not about reform… It is about paralyzing public servants—making them apprehensive about what they say, how it might be interpreted, and who might report on them. It is about deterring anyone from daring to speak truth to power.”

Congress should demand that the Trump admin provide the most basic of info about the conditions to which it is consigning human beings transferred from U.S. shores. @scott-roehm.bsky.social and @becingber.bsky.social on new legislation in the Senate: www.justsecurity.org/118670/congr...

#FreePress trend lines over the past month continue to head in the wrong direction for the health of our democracy. Glad I started tracking from the outset because it would be overwhelming to start compiling at this point....

1/ On January 6th, Jared L. Wise "told other rioters who were attacking law enforcement officers, 'Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!'" He is now "serving as a counselor to Ed Martin, the director of the so-called Weaponization Working Group" of the Bondi Justice Department.

For those who care about our information ecosystem, please bookmark the #pressfreedom tracker graphic in article below. I'm updating monthly to track how press freedom is being eroded over time. It is a defense mechanism against normalization. @penamerica.bsky.social @danamilbank.bsky.social

I love when people say that law doesn’t matter because it’s been violated and therefore we should stop talking about law entirely. Such a useful contribution. Thank you for your service.

The first segment of this episode of @strictscrutiny.bsky.social has an excellent overview of the legal questions surrounding the Iran strikes, via @becingber.bsky.social in conversation with @leahlitman.bsky.social

This is quite an account by a former career DOJ lawyer

The WH letter to Congress on the Iran strikes — I’ll explain in a brief thread below what we can read into this of the Admin’s legal position on both domestic and international law.

Thanks to @leahlitman.bsky.social and the @strictscrutiny.bsky.social for having me on to talk constitutional war powers, international law, and the recent U.S. strikes on Iran--

Lovely to wake up to an episode of @strictscrutiny.bsky.social and hear @becingber.bsky.social laying out the domestic and international law use-of-force frameworks: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

An addendum to this; some of it was saying “I may be afraid but I’m doing it anyway.” That is actually a stronger statement