Opinio Juris » Blog Archive » Can Alberto Gonzales be Sued in Federal Court for Violations of International Law?

Can Alberto Gonzales be Sued in Federal Court for Violations of International Law?

by Chris Borgen

In a new essay at Jurist, Jordan Paust concludes “probably.” Check it out and let us know what you think.

August 29th, 2007 - 1:45 PM EDT | Trackback Link |

http://opiniojuris.org/2007/08/29/can-alberto-gonzales-be-sued-in-federal-court-for-violations-of-international-law/

The Attorney General is not a real General. Obviously the author of this article is under the misunderstanding that he has a military role and was directly involved in the chain of command that made the military decisions of which he disapproves. The guy he is looking for sits in an Oval Office. If you want to sue him because you don’t like his policies, knock yourself out.

8.29.2007
at 5:46 pm EST HowardGilbert
Another proposed ATCA suit… people are really having a field day with that.

8.30.2007
at 9:51 am EST Matthew Gross
Regardless, it seems the Justice Dept. itself, via its inspector general, has sufficient reasons for investigating Gonzales’ conduct:

8.31.2007
at 9:57 am EST Patrick S. O'Donnell
Here’s the link: short description

8.31.2007
at 10:02 am EST Patrick S. O'Donnell
Ooops! Just can’t seem to do that link to the Los Angeles Times article. Perhaps someone else can.

8.31.2007
at 10:03 am EST Patrick S. O'Donnell

Posts of Interest

November 20, 2008
Judging the "Power" of International Law
What will it take to engage in a constructive debate about the power and limits of international law in international affairs? One answer is a book like Mary Ellen O’Connell’s, which makes a compelling case that not only scholars but laypersons and decision makers should think deeply before they disparage the international legal system in its entirety. Mary Ellen’s book is a frontal attack on the contention that there is no way to enforce international law.

November 20, 2008
The Prophetic Tradition of International Law and My Concerns About the Book's Manichaeism
One of the most interesting jurisprudential aspects of The Power and Purpose of International Law is its explicit use of Hans Kelsen. I am among those Americans for whom Kelsen is a mostly forgotten figure in jurisprudence - and I realized reading this book that, while I have probably read much more than most American legal scholars of his jurisprudential work, I am almost completely ignorant of his work in international law.

November 19, 2008
The Role of Natural Law as a Source For International Law
Within the context of our roles as part of a research group at Princeton’s Center for Theological Inquiry, Mary Ellen and I have had many wonderful conversations about natural law as a source for international law. My sense is we both share the view that natural law could be such a source, and we have discussed various instances in which that might occur.

November 19, 2008
The Natural Superiority of Courts
Despite the title of his post, I do not read Chris Borgen as a natural law skeptic! He accepts the existence of norms and principles that must be explained by theories other than positivism. He is just skeptical about the standard approach to explaining the source of natural law, namely, the use of the concept of the common good.

November 18, 2008
About Those Independent Domestic Courts
At risk of distracting us too soon from the merits vel non of natural law, I wanted to take up another piece of Mary Ellen’s account – namely, her fairly positive outlook on the prospects of domestic court enforcement of international law. Despite the subject matter’s placement in the very last chapter of the book, Mary Ellen I think rightly notes: “National courts are, in many respects, the most important institutions for enforcement of international law.