05
Apr
Secretary of State Rice’s Remarks at the ASIL
The transcript of Secretary Rice's comments at the Annual Meeting of the ASIL have been posted online here....
April 2005
05
Apr
Former Legal Adviser Taft Goes Off the Reservation
The WSJ reports today (reg. req'd) on a speech from last month by former State Department Legal Adviser William H. Taft IV criticizing the U.S. government's policy on detentions in Guantanamo Bay. Here are the highlights:There is no basis in the law of war, criminal law or human-rights law for such practices [in Guantanamo]. Nor is it tenable...
05
Apr
Posner and Goldsmith on "The Limits of International Law"
The day before last week's ASIL meeting, AEI hosted an excellent panel discussion of the book "The Limits of International Law" by Professors Eric Posner and Jack Goldsmith. A transcript of the discussion is here. The Posner/Goldsmith thesis is based on rational choice: States should engage in international law making or agree to comply with pre-existing international legal norms...
05
Apr
Why the U.S. Can’t Win: Sudanese Protest ICC Referral
Sudan's government is (not surprisingly) refusing to hand over alleged war criminals to the ICC, as it is required to do per the U.N. Security Council's resolution last week. Indeed, according to the BBC, tens of thousands of Sudanese are protesting the U.N. referral and even directly blaming the U.S. "We are coming here to say to America 'no' to...
04
Apr
Justice Ginsburg and Secretary of State Rice at the ASIL; More on Citation to Foreign Sources by U.S. Courts
As many of you may already know, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave the keynote address at the American Society of International Law’s Annual Meeting. This, in and of itself, is worthy of special note. However, on top of this, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice introduced the Justice with a short speech covering the relation of the rule of...
03
Apr
State Department Briefing on the ICC and Darfur; Some Thoughts on ICC Jurisdiction
Following is an excerpt from the State Department press briefing from April 1st in which Richard Boucher discussed Security Council Resolution 1593 (transcribed, along with state comments, here), referring the Darfur situation to the ICC (see also the press release from the ICC itself, with links to other resources, here). Some of the questions focus on whether the Security Council...
02
Apr
Security Council Resolution Referring the Darfur Situation to the ICC
The text of the resolution, as well as a summary statements of Security Council members on the resolution, is here.The resolution passed 11-0-4. The four abstentions were Algeria, Brazil, China, and the U.S. The technique of not necesarily supporting something but not preventing it either by abstaining has been a technique that has become more common in the Post-Cold War...