There’s already been a good bit of thoughtful (see Dave Glazier) and not so thoughtful commentary about the Obama Administration’s decision to revive the commissions. I admit, news of the continuation of the commissions (in some revised form) hardly filled me with joy. But I’ve also been sorry to see rhetoric that seems to paint it at the end...
Lately I have been doing extensive historical research on the development of international law and I came across this remarkable quote from the 1921 edition of Lassa Oppenheim's International Law: “A constant increase of population must in the end force upon a State the necessity of acquiring more territory, and if it cannot be acquired by peaceable means, acquisition by conquest...
Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC has summoned Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, a Darfuri rebel leader, to appear before the court to face war crimes charges: Abu Garda, member of the Zaghawa tribe of Sudan, is charged with three war crimes allegedly committed during an attack carried out on 29 September 2007 against the African Union Mission in Sudan (“AMIS”), a...
I'm not sure I entirely agree with Kevin's last post re the Wall Street Journal, but I'm going to let that go in favor of taking up another issue that comes from an earlier WSJ editorial, Pelosi's Self-Torture. (WSJ, editorial, May 15, 2009.) In the middle of that editorial (with which I otherwise largely agree), the Journal notes that Pelosi...
I realize that it's foolish to expect accuracy from the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, but it has outdone itself with the following statement, part of an editorial lavishing praise on Obama for resurrecting the military commissions: Another red herring is supposedly tightening the admissibility of hearsay evidence. Tribunal judges already have discretion to limit such evidence, and the current rules...
Texas Tech professor and retired Army colonel Richard D. Rosen has a very fine new article up on Westlaw on targeting and civilian immunity. It is a superb article - I myself am broadly in agreement with its sensible views on civilian immunity, human shields, sheltering among civilians, etc. - but even those who might disagree will find an outstandingly...
Here is an interesting example of the way that local governments, with encouragement and guidance by the national governments, are leading the US and Canada into a mini-trade war. Ordered by Congress to "buy American" when spending money from the $787 billion stimulus package, the town of Peru, Ind., stunned its Canadian supplier by rejecting sewage pumps made outside of...
The Thomas More Center has a sent a curious and oddly reasoned letter to the U,S. Secretary of State Clinton, demanding that she pressure the UK government to allow controversial (but popular) radio talk show host Michael Savage to enter the UK. The Thomas More Center offers two international legal arguments in favor of a "right" for Savage to be admitted...
It's official: President Obama is going to revive the use of military commissions to try war on terror suspects currently held in Guantanamo Bay. Funny how he always announces these sorts of climb-downs on Fridays. The ACLU has vowed to litigate this, no matter what, so there will be at least one argument somewhere. If that's the case, it would be really...
In the course of discussion with journalists at the Brookings Institution meeting I mentioned below, one interesting side question arose. In the course of the debates over Bush administration lawyers, and now Pelosi and the CIA, Republicans have publicly (and perhaps increasing numbers of Democrats privately, as the Pelosi debate gains strength) argued that Democrats should be careful what they...
Amos Guiora has a link at National Security Advisors for his new article of domestic terror courts. He writes in his abstract: President Barack Obama has stated that among his initial priorities as commander-in-chief is closing the United States detention facility in Guantanamo Bay. One of his first actions after taking office was to suspend all legal proceedings in Guantanamo so that “the...
I spent the past two days at an excellent conference organized by Ben Wittes - we discussed his book Law and the Long War (which I see you can get for the bargain price of $6.99 on Amazon) here at OJ when it came out - on ways in which Congress should legislate the future of US counterterrorism. It was...
