The D.C. Circuit held this week that torture by non-state actors was not actionable under the Alien Tort Statute. The case, Ali Shafi v. Palestinian Authority, arose from the alleged torture in the West Bank by the Palestinian Authority and the PLO of a Palestinian national who was an Israeli spy. The Shafis argue that “the [Palestinian Authority's] conduct...
Here is the Administration's legal analysis (in full) of why the 60/90-day clock of the War Powers Resolution doesn't apply to the continuing Libya operation: The President is of the view that the current U.S. military operations in Libya are consistent with the War Powers Resolution and do not under that law require further congressional authorization, because U.S. military operations are...
The Wall Street Journal national security reporting team, followed closely by the Washington Post and the AP, have been reporting in the last couple of days on the CIA being tasked to carry out an expanded Predator drone targeted killing program in Yemen. I’ve been meaning to blog on this, following on Deborah's post below discussing the AP story, but...
Some of you will recall the series of posts a few weeks back about the new authorization for use of military force (AUMF) legislation that the House of Representatives debated and passed at the end of May. Among other things, the bill would prohibit the use of Defense Department funds to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the United States for...
For those who follow these topics, two items of note. First, an AP story today reports that the United States is building a secret CIA air base in the Persian Gulf region to support U.S. targeting operations in Yemen. The story is sourced to anonymous government officials, and reports that “U.S. forces have stepped up their targeting as well, because...
Those who have followed the cases relating to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) here in the United States and at the ICJ know that the United States has a compliance problem. The United States does not provide the 'judicial review and reconsideration' remedy that the ICJ has indicated is required in the event a violation of an...
Passed along by Tony Anghie: The Asian Society of International Law will be holding its Third Biennial Conference in Beijing, China, on August 27th and 28th. The topics that will be addressed include human rights, international economic law and private international law, the law of the sea, climate change, disaster management, and the international law relating to security and conflict. A...
The International Law Commission (ILC) has adopted the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations (RIO). The final version of the articles is available on the ILC’s website. As the Chairman of the Drafting Committee noted, the adoption of these articles marks a historic occasion as the ILC has been working on the law of responsibility for over 60 years.The...
Christopher Caldwell does not quote Milton Friedman’s famous observation in this New York Times opinion piece, but it underlies it. Caldwell is a senior editor of the Weekly Standard and columnist for the Financial Times — as well as being the author of the most important book on Europe by an American that I’ve read in years, Reflections on the Revolution in...
Out-going Defense Secretary Gates has been delivering a series of farewell speeches that are noteworthy for their bluntness. His latest is perhaps the bluntest yet - on the future of the NATO alliance, which he sees as grim. The New York Times reports here; the Wall Street Journal has an editorial comment here. At one level, the problem is simply...
The Predator has asked that OJ's own KJH serve as its defense lawyer in the ICC. Joke!! But here, from The Onion: Predator Drone Court-Martialed For Afghani Civilian Deaths...
Over at the Harper's Magazine site Scott Horton interviews Laura Dickinson about her new book Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs. Horton begins: Waging war and engaging in diplomacy would generally be reckoned among the most important powers of any sovereign. Yet as Laura Dickinson argues in her new book, Outsourcing War and...
