In association with the International Commission of Jurists

June 2009

19 Jun

As most people probably know by now, the Washington Post, completely overburdened by liberals like Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, George Will, Jim Hoagland, Michael Gerson, Robert Kagan, Fred Hiatt, David Broder, Richard Cohen, John Bolton, Joe Lieberman, and Douglas Feith, has fired Dan Froomkin, author of the wonderful blog White House Watch.  Froomkin has yet to say anything about his firing, other than that...

|
19 Jun

Advisory committees are usually makeweight undertakings, supplying a crumbs-from-the-table kind of federal patronage. Not much work required of committee members to correspond with the associated level of prestige and compensation. For insiders, it must usually be a minor sort of bother. Brief outside "experts" on latest developments, make them feel in the loop, go back to work;...

|
19 Jun

[OJ Ed. - Professor Guiora had initially submitted the following post in two parts. They appear below in sequence, with the second half responding specifically to Ken Anderson's question.] The ‘limits of power’ is essential to the ‘rule of law’. While perhaps an obvious motto or slogan its application in times of crises is no mean feat. FDR’s decision to interne...

|
18 Jun

I'm delighted that Amos is guest-blogging with OJ this week, and I've read with great interest his posts - as well as his scholarship and policy writing - on administrative detention and related topics.  I have always wanted to ask the following, without a lot of knowledge, as I've never been to Israel and have only reading knowledge both of...

|
17 Jun

Once more, the online world of the metaverse (a term to encompass online virtual communities like Second Life, Entropia, etc.) reflects "real world" economic transactions. (See this and this for background.) The latest story (via Futurismic) is how an executive of Ebank, a bank set up in the metaverse Eve Online, illegally sold the deposits and collateral of its depositors...

|
17 Jun

There are two fundamental realities regarding the Israeli administrative detention process: 1) the individual (detainee) cannot confront his accuser 2) the individual (detainee) involved in planning terrorist actions is detained prior to carrying out an act of terrorism. Balancing these two is essential to lawful implementation of a measure, which by its very...

|
16 Jun

Bridget Crawford of Pace Law School and the Feminist Law Profs blog passes along the following call for papers for an upcoming symposium focused on comparative constitutional approaches to national security: Pace International Law Review 2009-2010 Symposium Call for Submissions Pace International Law Review is planning a symposium entitled Comparative Constitutional Law: National Security Across the Globe to be held in November of...

|
16 Jun

I am watching with fascination the Iranian protesters respond to the apparent election fraud in Iran. There are so many wonderful new media sources that it is difficult to keep up with the developments. Here's one old media outlet that provides a good list of new media sources. President Obama is in a pickle. ...

|
16 Jun

In the latest chapter of its attempt to consolidate its power over Georgia regarding the South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia has vetoed the continuation of the UN mission in the region. According to the AP: Russia has exercised its veto power in the U.N. Security Council and brought an end to the nearly 16-year-old U.N. observer mission in Georgia and breakaway...

|
16 Jun

David Bernstein is back with another attack on Human Rights Watch.  This time, he's up in arms that an HRW official had the temerity to criticize Israel in Saudi Arabia during a fundraising dinner: A delegation from Human Rights Watch was recently in Saudi Arabia. To investigate the mistreatment of women under Saudi Law? To campaign for the rights of homosexuals,...

|
16 Jun

[OJ ed. Note this post was submitted before comments to Mr. Guiora's first post were received.] In Monday’s post, I presented the fundamental principles of administrative detention. Today, I will discuss the process and considerations when to apply the measure as developed over the course of years in Israel with respect to a specific individual. The measure is applied in...

|
16 Jun

Scott Horton has a typically must-read post today at Harpers.com on Jose Padilla's lawsuit against John Yoo, which, happily, just survived a motion to dismiss and appears to be headed to trial.  Scott takes apart the state-secrets defense advanced by both Yoo and -- predictably -- the secrecy-obsessed Obama administration.  Here's a taste: In seeking dismissal, Yoo argued that the case...

|