Evan Jonathan Wallach (born November 11,1949) is an American lawyer and senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A former judge of the United States Court of International Trade,he is one of the nation's foremost experts on war crimes and the law of war. [1] [2]
Wallach was born in Superior,Arizona,the son of Albert Wallach,a millworker at the Magma Copper Company,and Sara Wallach,a local artist who helped run the town library and Little Theater group. Wallach was decorated for his service in the United States Army during the Vietnam War,and received a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Arizona in 1973,followed by a Juris Doctor at the University of California Berkeley in 1976. [3] Wallach joined the firm of Lionel Sawyer &Collins in Las Vegas,Nevada,as an associate,in 1976. [3] He received a Bachelor of Laws with honors in International Law from the University of Cambridge in 1981. [3] He became a partner at Lionel Sawyer &Collins in 1982,remaining in that position until 1995. [3]
He was able to take a leave from the firm to continue providing service to the U.S. military. [3] He attended the Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School at the University of Virginia and served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps in the International Affairs Division of the Office of TJAG at The Pentagon during the Gulf War,where he assisted in advising on the law of war and investigating war crimes allegedly committed by Iraqi leaders. He has taken JAG Officer's Basic and Advanced Courses.
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As an adjunct law professor Wallach specializes in the law of war. From 1989 to 1995 he served as Judge Advocate General in the Nevada Army National Guard, with the rank of major. His responsibilities included giving annual lectures to Military Police regarding their legal obligations on treatment of prisoners. [4] During the Gulf War he served at the Pentagon in the International Affairs Division of the Office of The Judge Advocate of the Army, where he assisted in advising on the law of war and investigating war crimes allegedly committed by Iraqi leaders.
From 1997 to 2011 he was an adjunct professor in Law of War at both New York Law School and Brooklyn Law School. From 2001 to 2012 he was a visiting professor in Law of War at the University of Münster. Since 2012 he has been an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School and currently teaches a course called "The Law Governing Fully Autonomous Fighting Vehicles."
Wallach is a member of the International Law of War Association, which is a "loose confederation of military lawyers, academics, and government officials including members of the judiciary, who are interested in the advancement of a legal regime to ameliorate suffering and for the regulation of the use of armed force in armed conflicts". [5] He is also a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations.
On June 27, 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Wallach to serve as a judge of the United States Court of International Trade, to the seat vacated by Judge Edward D. Re. He was confirmed by the Senate on August 11, 1995, and received his commission on August 14, 1995. He served on that court until his elevation to the court of appeals on November 18, 2011. [3]
President Barack Obama nominated him on July 28, 2011, to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. [6] [3] His nomination was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 6, 2011, by a voice vote. On November 8, 2011, his nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a 99–0 vote. [7] He received his commission on November 18, 2011. He assumed senior status on May 31, 2021. [8]
Wallach has had articles published both in mainstream media and legal journals, and has been widely cited in the media. [9] [10] Some of these include:
He is also the author of "Jake and Me," a coming of age novel about a young man in the 1920s Arizona mountains. [19]
An unlawful combatant, illegal combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent is a person who directly engages in armed conflict in violation of the laws of war and therefore is claimed not to be protected by the Geneva Conventions. The International Committee of the Red Cross points out that the terms "unlawful combatant", "illegal combatant" or "unprivileged combatant/belligerent" are not defined in any international agreements. While the concept of an unlawful combatant is included in the Third Geneva Convention, the phrase itself does not appear in the document. Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention does describe categories under which a person may be entitled to prisoner of war status. There are other international treaties that deny lawful combatant status for mercenaries and children.
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the person to experience the sensation of drowning. In the most common method of waterboarding, the captive's face is covered with cloth or some other thin material and immobilized on their back at an incline of 10 to 20 degrees. Torturers pour water onto the face over the breathing passages, causing an almost immediate gag reflex and creating a drowning sensation for the captive. Normally, water is poured intermittently to prevent death. However, if the water is poured uninterruptedly it will lead to death by asphyxia, also called dry drowning. Waterboarding can cause extreme pain, damage to lungs, brain damage from oxygen deprivation, other physical injuries including broken bones due to struggling against restraints, and lasting psychological damage. Adverse physical effects can last for months, and psychological effects for years. The term "water board torture" appeared in press reports as early as 1976.
The Guantanamo military commissions were established by President George W. Bush – through a military order – on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of eight convictions in the military commissions, six through plea agreements with the defendants. Several of the eight convictions have been overturned in whole or in part on appeal, mostly by U.S. federal courts.
Carl E. Stewart is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, and previously sat as a judge of the Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal from 1985 to 1994.
The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL), Juris Doctor (JD), and Doctor of the Science of Law (SJD) degree programs.
John Choon Yoo is a Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Yoo became known for his legal opinions concerning executive power, warrantless wiretapping, and the Geneva Conventions while serving in the George W. Bush administration, during which he was the author of the controversial "Torture Memos" in the War on Terror.
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated both the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the Geneva Conventions ratified by the U.S.
Jay Scott Bybee is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior U.S. circuit judge of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has published numerous articles in law journals and has taught as a senior fellow in constitutional law at William S. Boyd School of Law. His primary research interests are in constitutional and administrative law.
Robert Allen Katzmann was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 1, 2013, to August 31, 2020.
Denny Chin is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York City. He was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York before joining the federal appeals bench. President Bill Clinton nominated Chin to the district court on March 24, 1994, and Chin was confirmed August 9 of that same year. On October 6, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Chin to the Second Circuit. He was confirmed on April 22, 2010, by the United States Senate, filling the vacancy created by Judge Robert D. Sack who assumed senior status. Chin was the first Asian American appointed as a United States District Judge outside of the Ninth Circuit.
Michael Bernard Mukasey is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009.
Joseph Anthony Greenaway Jr. is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and previously sat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. On February 9, 2010, he was confirmed to his seat on the Third Circuit, filling the vacancy created by Justice Samuel Alito's elevation to the United States Supreme Court. Greenaway had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama.
Haldane Robert Mayer is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Paul Steven Diamond is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and a former federal judicial nominee to be a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was appointed a federal judge by George W. Bush in 2004.
Amul Roger Thapar is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He was also President Trump's first Court of Appeals appointment and Trump's second judicial appointment after Justice Neil Gorsuch. Thapar was discussed as a candidate for the Supreme Court of the United States.
Henry Travillion Wingate is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
A set of legal memoranda known as the "Torture Memos" were drafted by John Yoo as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States and signed in August 2002 by Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee, head of the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice. They advised the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Department of Defense, and the President on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques—mental and physical torment and coercion such as prolonged sleep deprivation, binding in stress positions, and waterboarding—and stated that such acts, widely regarded as torture, might be legally permissible under an expansive interpretation of presidential authority during the "War on Terror".
Alison Julie Nathan is an American lawyer who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 2022. She served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2011 to 2022. She previously served as associate White House counsel for President Barack Obama.
Ian Wallach is an American lawyer and founding partner of the Law Offices of Ian Wallach, P.C. He is a legal news commentator who has appeared on regional, national, and international television and radio shows speaking on current legal issues.
Michael Hun Park is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
