Greg Barns claims that the case should be stopped because it represents an unprecedented attempt by the US to prosecute an individual who is not one of its citizens, and who was not in the US when the WikiLeaks material was published. This is called extraterritorial reach and generally the law frowns on it.

The US and the UK have an extradition treaty that permits this. The UK can withdraw from the treaty, but unless they do this line of argument is willfully dishonest.