Louis Fisher

June 23, 2014 | National Law Journal

The administration vowed to scale back executive power, but the Bergdahl swap proved otherwise.

By Louis Fisher

5 minute read

March 10, 2014 | National Law Journal

The last two administrations have unfairly used state-secrets privilege to cover for their mistakes.

By Louis Fisher

5 minute read

November 21, 2013 | New Jersey Law Journal

A justice's words from 77 years ago created a mistake of presidential proportions.

By Louis Fisher

4 minute read

November 18, 2013 | National Law Journal

A justice's words from 77 years ago created a mistake of presidential proportions.

By Louis Fisher

5 minute read

July 12, 2004 | National Law Journal

A quarter-century ago, an American judge in Berlin refused to be bullied. Louis Fisher tells a Cold War tale that anticipates the constitutional concerns of today.

By Louis Fisher

9 minute read

October 01, 2007 | National Law Journal

In recent cases involving state secrets, federal judges typically put the plaintiff's interest on one side of the scale and the government's interest on the other. Not surprisingly, the individual loses every time. This approach protects neither the plaintiff nor the nation, writes Louis Fisher.

By Louis Fisher

9 minute read

March 23, 2009 | National Law Journal

A recently released Justice Department memo, written by John Yoo and dated Oct. 23, 2001, argues that First Amendment speech and press rights may be "subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully." The "current campaign against terrorism," he concluded, "may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically." The memo is devoted primarily to the president's ability to use armed forces against terrorists within the United States, largely free of the constraints of the Fourth Amendment. It did not explore how military needs might override the First Amendment. What actions did the Bush administration contemplate?

By Louis Fisher / Special to the National Law Journal

5 minute read

July 30, 2012 | National Law Journal

Like the legal opinion by William French Smith on which it relies, Obama's invocation of privilege is poorly reasoned.

By Louis Fisher

5 minute read

April 19, 2004 | National Law Journal

The president can defend his privilege with the Constitution, but politics usually wins the day, writes Louis Fisher.

By Louis Fisher

9 minute read

July 01, 2013 | National Law Journal

The Obama administration needs to go from words to action.

By Louis Fisher

6 minute read