Ryan Goodman
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rgoodlaw.bsky.social
Ryan Goodman
@rgoodlaw.bsky.social
https://www.youtube.com/@RGoodLaw

Co-editor-in-chief @justsecurity.org. Chaired Prof at NYU Law. Former Chaired Prof Harvard. Former Special Counsel Defense Dept.

https://www.justsecurity.org/author/goodmanryan
6) Plus CNN @natashabertrand.bsky.social's earlier reporting of moves inside the Pentagon.

How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action
How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action | CNN Politics
For weeks earlier this year, the Army’s top uniformed lawyer had been raising legal concerns inside the Pentagon about some of the new policies being rolled out dictating how the military can be used ...
www.cnn.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:48 PM
5) There's even more.

"Many of the lawyers and other career officials at the White House National Security Council, Pentagon and Justice Department who had ... raised concerns about using lethal force against narcotraffickers had either left government or were reassigned or removed."
November 22, 2025 at 3:27 PM
4) The CIA Americas and Counternarcotics Mission Center's lawyer "who questioned the use of lethal force against drug traffickers has been reassigned and replaced."
November 22, 2025 at 3:24 PM
3/ The National Security Counsel's Legal Adviser Paul Ney (who earlier served loyally as Trump 1.0 Pentagon General Counsel) "had been among the lawyers who had raised concerns about the legality of lethal strikes."

He was cast out in May.
November 22, 2025 at 3:22 PM
2/ CIA Acting General Counsel, a career lawyer, "was among those who had raised questions about the legality of the agency’s use of lethal force."

What happened next?

CIA Deputy Director Ellis stepped in to become acting General Counsel and still hold his policy position. He then approved the ops.
November 22, 2025 at 3:16 PM
2/ source (Ranking Member House Judiciary Committee @raskin.house.gov letter to AG Bondi)

democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
democrats-judiciary.house.gov
November 21, 2025 at 5:15 PM
4) I guess we'll have to update our newly updated Study, which we published at noon on November 20, 2025.

The study documents all cases of government noncompliance with court orders and cases of government misinformation provided to courts.

www.justsecurity.org/120547/presu...
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."
www.justsecurity.org
November 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
3) "There's no way to sugarcoat it, it was in defiance of my order."

Judge Paula Xinis, November 20, 2025
November 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
2) "At some point, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything that [U.S. Government] Defendants represent."

- Judge Sara Ellis, November 20, 2025
November 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
3/3 Link to Judge Cobb's decision overturning the president's deployment of the DC Guard to fight crime and use of out of states Guard forces:

ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
November 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM
2/3 What Judge Cobb wrote dovetails with Daniel Dale's fact check.

Fact check: Trump’s false claims about the Insurrection Act
Fact check: Trump’s false claims about the Insurrection Act | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump has made a series of inaccurate claims in recent days about the Insurrection Act, the old law he has mused about invoking to deploy troops to some US cities.
www.cnn.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:19 PM
2/ "Federal officials appeared to be questioning whether Martin and Pulte divulged information about an ongoing criminal investigation of Schiff with people who were not authorized to be a part of it, according to a subpoena issued in the case and another person familiar with the interview."
Prosecutors quiz witness on Ed Martin, Bill Pulte moves in Schiff case
Prosecutors questioned a California Republican activist about her contact with Trump administration officials over their mortgage fraud investigation into Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California).
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Now this: "The Coast Guard said Thursday a Washington Post report that claimed it will no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols is 'categorically false.'"

thehill.com/policy/defen...
thehill.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:48 PM
2/ "The inquiry, according to the additional sources, include the office of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at Justice Department headquarters looking into the work of people who may have been dispatched or held themselves out to witnesses improperly around the mortgage fraud investigation."
November 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM