Weekend Roundup June 30-July 6, 2012

This week on Opinio Juris, we had Kevin Jon Heller weighing in on Melinda Taylor’s release in Libya and offering thoughts related to whether she should be prosecuted there. Additionally, Kevin Jon proposed a thought experiment regarding ICC-State cooperation in response to the Melinda Taylor situation and gave an analysis offering more evidence as to why Libya is unable to prosecute Saif al-Islam Gaddafi with regard to its admissability challenge to the ICC, which he urged the Pre-Trial Chamber to reject until Libya could demonstrate control over Saif. Finally, Heller pointed to a recent essay by Marjolein Cupido, recently appearing in the Criminal Law Forum regarding the rhetoric of the policy requirement for crimes against humanity.

Chris Borgen highlighted international law in literature, pointing to the Daredevil story arc and analyzing the rights to a fair and public hearing therein. Julian Ku posted about the Obama/Romney War on Terror, looking at each candidate’s standpoint on foreign policy in light of the upcoming election. Duncan Hollis offered some insights into July as Arms Trade Treaty Month, illustrating some issues related to developing such a treaty, while Kenneth Anderson summarized a letter sent by some 130 US lawmakers warning the Obama administration about an arms treaty before he posted about the negotiations process and the problems of consensus for a hegemonic player.  

We hosted a Symposium for the Leiden Journal of International Law’s Volume 25:2, wherein two discussions arising from the contents of the Volume took place. The first, involving Mario Prost and Alejandra Torres Camprubi’s Against Fairness? International Environmental Law, Disciplinary Bias and Pareto Justice, has a thought-provoking response from Karin Mickelson mostly agreeing with what the article had to say but also highlighting the understated problem of engagement with common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDRs) from the perspective of the global South. Additionally, Eric Posner offers insight into Prost and Camprubi’s claims in the article involving Posner’s book (written with David Weisbach–Climate Change Justice), and responds to them in kind before also critiquing a few substantive points within the article itself. Prost and Camprubi take the opportunity to respond to many of Posner’s points as well as addressing Mickelson’s issue with CBDRs.

The second discussion involved Nico Krisch’s book, Beyond Constitutionalism: The Pluralist Structure of Postnational Law. Tom de Boer reviews the book in the LJIL volume and Daniel Halberstam offers a commentary on the book as well as on De Boer’s review. Nico Krisch responds to the critique raised in De Boer’s review, specifically addressing its constitutionalist nature and internationalist outlook. Finally, Tom de Boer offers his reaction to both Krisch and Halberstam in his post analyzing how radical pluralism bites its own tail.

And another reminder: it’s still not too late to participate in our readers’ survey and enter the sweepstakes to win a $100 Amazon gift voucher.

Thank you very much to our guest contributors and have a nice weekend!