The Washington Post notes today that General Michael Miller, a former commander at the Guantanamo detention center who also assisted in setting up the center at Abu Ghraib, has invoked his right against self-incrimination and refused to give testimony in one of the military trials against a lower ranking soldier accused of abuse at Abu Ghraib:Harvey Volzer, an attorney for...
Stunningly, Sen. Joe Biden has actually asked a good question: Can the President invade Iran without a declaration of war by Congress? (He claims that Professor "Ho" makes this argument. I assume he means Professor John Yoo of Berkeley).Somewhat surprisingly, Alito gives Biden a fairly complete answer, even though this will almost certainly come before the Court soon. He explains...
Yesterday was not a stellar day for the law blog community. Here is what some of the most popular law blogs on the Internet were discussing: Volokh Conspiracy had a post that compared Ted Kennedy to Joseph McCarthy, Concurring Opinions had a post that had no less than 20 references to Jennifer Aniston nude, Professor Bainbridge had a post about...
Over at Slate, Julian Mortenson, who served as a legal officer at the ICTY, is reporting this week on life at the ICTY prison in the Hague. It's a fascinating read, particularly his description of the the way in which prisoners of different ethnic groups who are accused of commiting genocide and war crimes against one another's groups have...
Thus far, Judge Alito's testimony has not touched on immigration in any significant manner. But here is one exchange between Senator Coburn that addresses the issue of immigrants who appear before Judge Alito: COBURN: ...
Following up on Peggy's post from yesterday and her earlier post today, Judge Alito was more explicit today in his rejection of the use of foreign and international law to interpret the Bill of Rights. Key quote: "I think the framers would be stunned by the idea that the Bill of Rights is to be interpreted by taking a poll...
There is a bit more on foreign and international sources at today's hearings. This from the SCOTUSBlog live blog:10.43 Coburn says that reference to foreign law undermines democracy and a violation of the Constitution. He thinks its use violates the "good behavior" qualification for judges.10.41 Alito doesn't think foreign law is relevant either. The framers would be "stunned" to know...
Peggy has already posted on one of the most important international law aspects of the Alito hearings today. But there was also some very useful discussion of executive authority under the Jackson trilogy of Youngstown. Here is an exchange between Senator Leahy and Alito that addresses torture and presidential authority: "LEAHY: Now, three years ago, the...
Sure, Judge Alito is getting grilled by the Senate, but let's turn to really important stuff. Like the news today that the Republic of Djibouti has filed an application with the International Court of Justice against France alleging France violated its treaty obligations to provide judicial assistance in a Djibouti criminal investigation. This looks like a fairly tedious and...
SCOTUSBlog's live blogging from the Alito hearings includes this exchange between Senator Kyl and Judge Alito on the appropriateness of foreign and international law in U.S. jurisprudence:12:58: Sen. Kyl asks when it is appropriate to focus on foreign law. Alito says it is not helpful to interpret the constitution. The structure of our government is unique to our country. As...
During this last week, while enjoying participating in the dialogue on this website, I have made several references to the humane treatment obligation imposed by the law of war (or, as known to many, international humanitarian law). I believe it is essential that the United States express uncompromising commitment to this norm, and ensure that it is understood and implemented...
A group of prominent law scholars and attorneys has issued a letter rejecting the U.S. government's legal justification for the NSA spying program (the legality of which Professor Weinberger and I debated here and here). This is not your typical letter by the liberal law professoriate (although the usual suspects like Harold Koh, Laurence Tribe and Kathleen Sullivan appear). The...
