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Ryan Goodman Profile picture
Ryan Goodman
@rgoodlaw
Chaired Professor NYU Law. Co-editor-in-chief, Just Security. Former Chaired Professor Harvard Law. Former Special Counsel Department of Defense.
Mar 25 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
This is utterly extraordinary.

If Hegseth et al got this wrong, think what else is happening with the drug boat strikes and much more.

The U.S. Said It Helped Bomb a Drug Camp. It Was a Dairy Farm.

Gets worse as you read it.

1/ Image 2/ "Workers on the farm told The Times that Ecuadorean soldiers .. doused several shelters and sheds with gasoline and ignited them after interrogating workers and beating four of them with the butts of their guns ... later choked and subjected them to electrical shocks."
Mar 9 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Key ruling on ICE/CBP operations

Judge Tostrud (Trump appointee):

"Plaintiffs have made a clear showing that Defendants have adopted a POLICY authorizing federal immigration officers to conduct investigatory stops based on ethnicity or race without reasonable suspicion."
1/ Image 2/ With a team, I had provided a graphic representation of some of the key declarants in the plaintiffs' case here:

justsecurity.org/130745/minneso…Image
Feb 26 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
NYT adds important context for reporting on Kash Patel and Susie Wiles (plus oddity of Patel being Reuters' source for his own grievance).

[1] "Requests for phone records are common in complex criminal investigations to establish timelines and provide proof of communication." Image [2] "It has been known for years that Mr. Patel was closely scrutinized by investigators under the special counsel Jack Smith and was compelled to testify in front of a grand jury."

My add/reminder: Kash invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Image
Feb 23 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Me with a scoop/exclusive

Five days after Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest, federal authorities “directed” NY law enforcement authorities to “stand down” their investigations related to Epstein, new documents released by DOJ show.

Part of new Timeline on NY and Epstein. Image 2/ source

FBI’s “Stand Down” Directive to NYPD on Jeffrey Epstein Investigations, and More
A Timeline of NY Law Enforcement and Epstein Investigations

justsecurity.org/132230/fbi-sta…
Feb 19 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
U.K. action helps expose DOJ coverup:

Feb 7: Bondi DOJ memo: "We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties."

Sept 16: Kash Patel testimony: "There is no credible information, none" that Epstein trafficked girls to other men. Image 2/ Plus: Norway's former PM charged with gross corruption over Epstein links

bbc.com/news/articles/…
Feb 10 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
PSA for magistrate judges

"An FBI search warrant affidavit ... shows that a criminal investigation into 2020 election results in Fulton County, Ga., was set off by a leading election denier in the Trump administration and relied heavily on claims ... widely debunked." Image source

nytimes.com/2026/02/10/us/…
Jan 25 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Imagine this in a trial.

Devastating first-hand witness to Alex Pretti's killing

Declaration filed in federal court:

"I don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him." Image 2/ "The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun."

Document: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2650…Image
Jan 24 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
On camera: Vance, Noem say ICE doesn’t use race.

In court: DOJ's filings say the exact opposite.

Here's what the Justice Department actually told the Supreme Court, and how DOJ defends ICE's use of racially profiling.

Full analysis on my YouTube and Substack
🧵 2/ Shareable link to full analysis⤵️

A close look at what the DOJ left undisputed.

And how DOJ admitted to the courts that stopping racial profiling would “upend immigration enforcement efforts” in the way ICE currently carries it out.

Jan 18 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Why does DHS keep telling you false information on Minnesota about:

- what they mean by "criminal" immigrants
- the legal standard for arrests
- what the Supreme Court has said

Also, what implications does this have for the Insurrection Act?

Preview below of one issue.
1/2 2/ Here's my full discussion.⤵️

Unreasonable Suspicion: Decoding DHS Propaganda on ICE Arrests

Jan 12 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
A time for choosing, from main street to wall street.

"This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress’s oversight role. .... Those are pretexts."

Thank you, Chairman Powell. 2/ "I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. ... Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats."
Jan 11 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
NEW

An initially-secret report for Customs and Border Patrol in 2013 found:

In many cases, the “driver was attempting to flee from the agents who intentionally put themselves into the exit path of the vehicle, thereby … creating justification for the use of deadly force.”
🧵 2/ I discuss this report at greater length on my YouTube channel and Substack

Substack: substack.com/home/post/p-18…
YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=izontt…
Jan 7 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
It was an honor to work with Brian Egan and Tess Bridgeman on this important piece.

- The President did not have constitutional authority for the Venezuela operation.

- It also violated the "supreme Law of the Land" - UN Charter, which the Senate passed 89-2.

1/ Image 2/ source

Congress, the President, and the Use of Military Force in Venezuela

By Brian Egan, Tess Bridgeman and Ryan Goodman

justsecurity.org/128211/congres…
Jan 4 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
I joined with two great legal experts on this analysis.

In this thread, I highlight 3 items you may not see covered in same way, if at all, elsewhere.

Panama 'precedent'
safeguards for Heads of State
Venezuelan nationals new legal protections in US

🧵
justsecurity.org/127981/interna… 2/ "Panama precedent" of 1989 US action to capture Noriega counts against, not in favor, of US actions in Venezuela.

a) UN General Assembly "strongly deplored" US 1989 action
b) HW Bush, James Baker, Amb Pickering cited justifications nowhere in Venezuela case

Excerpt⤵️ Image
Dec 31, 2025 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
WSJ report is extraordinary in implicating Mar-a-Lago in Epstein systematic sexual abuse.

It takes a close read, but looks like WSJ is reporting Trump was informed and told Mar-a-Lago manager to "kick out" Epstein in 2003 not from Mar-a-Lago, but from the Mar-a-Lago Spa.

1/ 2/ Note the WSJ report says:

"But Epstein continued to attend parties and events at Mar-a-Lago."

gift link (reporting by @joe_palazzolo @rebeccaballhaus @khadeeja_safdar):
wsj.com/us-news/trump-…
Dec 13, 2025 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
With Admiral Bradley's lawyer speaking to Congress this upcoming week.

Threshold question is how ANY of these strikes are legal.

On Sept 2 strike: Q is whether they applied standard Collateral Damage Estimation Methodology.

Because look what it says (declassified 2012)⤵️
1/ Image 2/ The Collateral Damage Estimation Methodology goes to the heart of the latest DoD claims about the strike.

The claim is that the second strike was targeting the (possible) cocaine, not the shipwrecked.

I do not see how that could have possibly complied with the Methodology.
Dec 6, 2025 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
An important step in the right direction:

"The Senate Armed Services Committee ... has asked Adm. Alvin Holsey ... to testify before the committee next week, according to Blumenthal and another person familiar with the matter."

Report by @theodoricmeyer @noahjrobertson
1/ Image 2/ source

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
Dec 5, 2025 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
How is U.S. military killing these 11 people keeping drugs (fentanyl) out of the United States?

DOD knew the drugs (cocaine) were headed to Suriname.

Yes, that's the OTHER DIRECTION.

Read what Bradley-Caine told lawmakers:

Scoop by @NatashaBertrand

🧵 1/ Image 2/ Problems for Bradley's credibility.

On left:

Bradley argued to lawmakers "still a possibility" drugs could've made way to US.

On right:

Trump State Dept: "Suriname is a transit country for South American cocaine, the majority of which is likely destined for Europe." Image
Image
Dec 5, 2025 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NEW info on shipwreck attack. Gets worse.

The 2 survivors climbed atop wreckage and waved to overhead.

"Some of the people viewing the video thought ... could have been an attempt to surrender"

Others "said the most logical explanation was ... signaling for a rescue."

1/ Image 2/ What Adm. Bradley and Gen. Caine told Congress raises credibility concerns.

"The military officers briefing Congress on Thursday said the survivors could have been trying to beckon to other alleged drug traffickers in a plane or boat to come get them...."

But get this ...
Dec 5, 2025 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
🚨🚨🚨This collapses the one 'argument' Hegseth had against it being war crime:

"Two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat .. DID NOT APPEAR TO HAVE RADIO OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers."

1/ Image 2/ Secretary Hegseth bears ultimate responsibility as the designated Target Engagement Authority.

And recall how many times he has said Admiral Bradley acted within the authority Hegseth gave him, and that Bradley made "the correct" decision.

Dec 4, 2025 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Debrief of shipwreck attack by Ranking Member of House Armed Services Adam Smith:

"The idea is supposed to be that if they could get assistance, they could get back 'in the fight,' ...But Smith said the officials confirmed...they have no recording of these communications."
1/ Image 2/ “Smith said the video shows two men, sitting without shirts, atop a portion of a capsized boat that was still above water. ...

... He called it a 'highly questionable decision that these two people on that obviously incapacitated vessel were still in any kind of fight.'” Image
Dec 4, 2025 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
USG has a new explanation on why they (now admittedly) intentionally killed 2 shipwrecked men. It does not pass the laws-of-war smell test

Worse for Hegseth, NYT: "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved contingency plans for what to do if an initial strike left survivors."
🧵 Image 2/ The Hegseth-approved contingency plan:

US military could try to kill shipwrecked survivors if "they took what the United States deemed to be a hostile action, like communicating with suspected cartel members." Image