Rule of Law Handbook: A Practitioner’s Guide for Judge Advocates
Publisher
Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School
Date
2009
The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS) trains and educates military, civilian, and international personnel in legal and leadership skills; develops doctrine and captures lessons learned; and conducts strategic planning in order to provide trained and ready legal personnel, imbued with the Warrior Ethos, to perform the JAGC mission in support of a Joint and Expeditionary Force. Within TJAGLCS, the Center for Law and Military Operations (CLAMO) specializes in the collection of after action reviews (AARs) from Judge Advocates, paralegals, and other legal professionals recently returned from deployments. These AARs reveal two constantly re-occurring themes. The first is that commanders naturally turn to their Judge Advocates to plan, execute, coordinate, and evaluate rule of law efforts. The second is that no comprehensive resource exists to assist practitioners in fulfilling this task.
It is highly likely that ongoing overseas contingency operations will require the US military to engage in operations that include a rule of law component as an essential part of the overall mission. The 2002 National Security Strategy (NSS) mentioned the term nine times. In the 2006 NSS, the count was sixteen. As the 2002 NSS explains:
America must stand firmly for the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity: the rule of law; limits on the absolute power of the state; free speech; freedom of worship; equal justice; respect for women; religious and ethnic tolerance; and respect for private property.
The current administration has also underscored its commitment to the rule of law. President Obama has remarked, “I believe that our nation is stronger and more secure when we deploy the full measure of both our power and the power of our values, including the rule of law.”
While there is little debate over the need for such a practitioner’s guide, little else in the rule of law arena garners widespread agreement. There are divergent, and often conflicting, views among academics, various USG agencies, US allies and even within the Department of Defense (DOD), as to whether to conduct rule of law operations, what constitutes a rule of law operation, how to conduct a rule of law operation, or even what the term “rule of law” means. As in the case of any emerging area of legal practice or military specialty, doctrine is in its infancy, official guidance is incomplete, and educational opportunities are limited.
Citation
Thomas B. Nachbar, ed., Rule of Law Handbook: A Practitioner’s Guide for Judge Advocates, Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (2009 ed. 2009).