Rebecca Ingber
@becingber.bsky.social
Law prof at Cardozo Law. Former U.S. State Dept a few times over. Writes on international law, war powers and national security, presidential power and bureaucracy.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1587178
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1587178
This makes 75 deaths in 19 strikes.
The president is using our armed forces to kill people suspected of drug crimes on his say so. They call it “armed conflict” because they don’t want to acknowledge it’s murder. But it’s “not hostilities” because they don’t want to ask Congress for approval.
The president is using our armed forces to kill people suspected of drug crimes on his say so. They call it “armed conflict” because they don’t want to acknowledge it’s murder. But it’s “not hostilities” because they don’t want to ask Congress for approval.
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
This makes 75 deaths in 19 strikes.
The president is using our armed forces to kill people suspected of drug crimes on his say so. They call it “armed conflict” because they don’t want to acknowledge it’s murder. But it’s “not hostilities” because they don’t want to ask Congress for approval.
The president is using our armed forces to kill people suspected of drug crimes on his say so. They call it “armed conflict” because they don’t want to acknowledge it’s murder. But it’s “not hostilities” because they don’t want to ask Congress for approval.
President Trump has essentially declared himself to be lawyer-in-chief and fact finder-in-chief. He alone can determine the outer bounds of his own legal authority.
October 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
President Trump has essentially declared himself to be lawyer-in-chief and fact finder-in-chief. He alone can determine the outer bounds of his own legal authority.
![Americans who cling to the hope that the military will constrain the president’s excesses by disobeying his unlawful orders must recognize that in addition to the confused legal landscape, U.S. military personnel face an unprecedented tsunami of executive actions intended and designed to secure absolute and unquestioning military obedience. Hegseth’s admonition to America’s senior military leaders at Quantico to “do the honorable thing and resign” if his words made their “heart[s] sink,” made it clear that any act of what he considers disloyalty or dissent will be crushed.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jdcvz3wwv3p2ikudj3xkb7wr/bafkreiciyhleshumzhrzusemqi6o5s5wueisporiu2y7wx5p65w7c7rlg4@jpeg)
This may be what they want to say, but it is not a legally available option. Furthermore, none of these arguments would justify the targeted killing of civilians — which is what mere drug smugglers would be in such a scenario
September 30, 2025 at 2:46 AM
This may be what they want to say, but it is not a legally available option. Furthermore, none of these arguments would justify the targeted killing of civilians — which is what mere drug smugglers would be in such a scenario
DESIGNATING SHELVING AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
Executive Orders
September 25, 2025
Executive Orders
September 25, 2025
September 26, 2025 at 2:45 AM
DESIGNATING SHELVING AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
Executive Orders
September 25, 2025
Executive Orders
September 25, 2025
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
September 19, 2025 at 4:32 PM
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
And here is the Charter’s narrow exception, for self-defense against an armed attack
September 6, 2025 at 12:15 AM
And here is the Charter’s narrow exception, for self-defense against an armed attack
Apropos of nothing, this is the UN Charter, Article 2(4) prohibition on the threat or use of force against other states
September 6, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Apropos of nothing, this is the UN Charter, Article 2(4) prohibition on the threat or use of force against other states
And this is why the letter includes the terms “necessary and proportionate” toward the end. So they’ve had enough legal advice to say all the magic words. But these are fact-based inquiries.
June 23, 2025 at 11:45 PM
And this is why the letter includes the terms “necessary and proportionate” toward the end. So they’ve had enough legal advice to say all the magic words. But these are fact-based inquiries.
The international law is woven throughout. The 1st para uses the term “collective self defense.” So that is the Admin’s international theory. CSD is lawful under intl law IF the state is acting on behalf of another state that itself has a lawful basis to claim self-defense to an armed attack,
June 23, 2025 at 11:38 PM
The international law is woven throughout. The 1st para uses the term “collective self defense.” So that is the Admin’s international theory. CSD is lawful under intl law IF the state is acting on behalf of another state that itself has a lawful basis to claim self-defense to an armed attack,
But that’s the reason for that statement on national interest in para 1. And para 2 addresses prong 2, stating the strike was limited. So this is the Admin’s argument—that the strikes do not amount to war in the constitutional sense.
June 23, 2025 at 11:33 PM
But that’s the reason for that statement on national interest in para 1. And para 2 addresses prong 2, stating the strike was limited. So this is the Admin’s argument—that the strikes do not amount to war in the constitutional sense.
The language in the letter suggests a mix of reasoning under both intl and domestic law.
June 23, 2025 at 11:28 PM
The language in the letter suggests a mix of reasoning under both intl and domestic law.
Well that escalated rather quickly
June 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Well that escalated rather quickly
The court recognizes all this.
June 4, 2025 at 9:49 PM
The court recognizes all this.
And puts insufficient weight on the evidence right in front of our eyes coming directly from the White House, like their own comms:
June 4, 2025 at 9:46 PM
And puts insufficient weight on the evidence right in front of our eyes coming directly from the White House, like their own comms:
But disappointing. Judge Boasberg does not find that the U.S. retains constructive custody of the detainees it sent to the CECOT in El Salvador
June 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
But disappointing. Judge Boasberg does not find that the U.S. retains constructive custody of the detainees it sent to the CECOT in El Salvador
Here is the letter DHS Sec Kristi Noem posted (on X, of course)
May 22, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Here is the letter DHS Sec Kristi Noem posted (on X, of course)
Pickles sends his worried face* and best wishes for a speedy recovery!
*also known as “his face”
*also known as “his face”
May 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Pickles sends his worried face* and best wishes for a speedy recovery!
*also known as “his face”
*also known as “his face”
The part where Roberts tells Alito he told him so
May 16, 2025 at 8:50 PM
The part where Roberts tells Alito he told him so