I doubt there is any international law relevant to this emerging crisis in Bolivia, where certain regions are seeking "autonomy" (but not independence) from the central government. Still, it is serious enough to spur international action (the OAS is on the case). And perhaps it is a prelude to secession, and autonomy is laying the groundwork. I don't know...
Earlier this week the WTO Appellate Body clarified the role of legal precedent in WTO jurisprudence. The background to the discussion was a WTO panel’s refusal to follow a previous Appellate Body decision because the panel viewed the previous Appellate Body decision as failing to accord proper deference to permissible Member State interpretations. The details of the panel decision...
Critics of the U.S. war on terrorism often suggest that it is not a "real war" and that it is merely a slogan. Indeed, many critics reject the "war" paradigm completely. That's a fair argument, but it is worth remembering that there are traditional war-like aspects of the war on terrorism that don't neatly fit in the law-enforcement...
Marty Lederman has kindly published a long post I have written on what — if anything — the Justice Case has to say about the criminal responsibility of government lawyers like Yoo. Here is the introduction:Scholars who argue that John Yoo’s authorship of the infamous torture memos makes him complicit in various war crimes -– torture, illegal detention, etc....
I'll strike this up to strange timing. On the same day of reports of increasing tensions between Russia and Georgia, including Russian troop movements along the Russian/Georgian border and an increase of Russian forces in the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, CNN runs a piece on...
As regular readers know, I have been critical of Washington & Lee's move toward a third-year experiential learning program, fearing that it would marginalize international law courses. Well, those fears were put to rest yesterday when the faculty at W&L unanimously approved a mandatory three-hour first-year Transnational Law course. The description of the course is as follows: This...
