* United States v. Abu-Jihaad (2d Cir. Dec. 20, 2010) (affirming conviction)
The 2nd Circuit has affirmed the conviction of Hassan Abu-Jihaad (formerly known as Paul Hall) in connection with the disclosure of national defense information (involving the movements of a Navy battlegroup) to a UK resident involved in an online extremist publication. On appeal, he argued that the trial court erred by not suppressing FISA-derived evidence (either because FISA is unconstitutional or because the government failed to comply with it), that various other evidentiary rulings were erroneous to the point of denying him a fair trial, that the evidence in any event was inadequate to support the conviction, and that various CIPA orders were an abuse of discretion. In an opinion by Judge Raggi (joined by Judges Hall and Chin), the panel rejected all of these arguments.
By Robert M. Chesney
Robert M. Chesney is Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at UT-Austin School of Law. Chesney is a national security law specialist, with a particular interest in problems associated with terrorism. Professor Chesney recently served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detainee Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board, a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the American Law Institute. Professor Chesney has published extensively on topics ranging from detention and prosecution in the counterterrorism context to the states secrets privilege. He served previously as chair of the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools and as editor of the National Security Law Report (published by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security). His upcoming projects include two books under contract with Oxford University Press, one concerning the evolution of detention law and policy and the other examining the judicial role in national security affairs.
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