In association with the International Commission of Jurists

January 2013

21 Jan

It was a liberal speech, but also a nationalist one. Obama returned to the citizenship theme of his DNC acceptance speech: My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride. They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope. You and I, as...

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21 Jan

A UN report released yesterday entitled Treatment of Conflict Detainees in Afghan Custody: One Year On (report found here, press release found here) claims that Afghan authorities are still torturing prisoners, such as hanging them by their wrists and beating them with cables. A police office in Kabul has been attacked earlier today by Taliban forces, in a second attack on a government building...

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20 Jan

A few days ago, I criticized Judge Pohl's rejection of al-Nashiri's claim that there was no armed conflict between the US and al-Qaeda at the time of the acts alleged in his indictment — such as the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 – thereby depriving the military commission of jurisdiction over those acts.  Judge Pohl's decision relied almost exclusively...

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20 Jan

Upcoming Events The tenth edition of the Young International Lawyers Research Forum will be held on January 24-25, 2013, at the University of Catania with the theme of A Lackland Law? Territory, Effectiveness and Jurisdiction in International and European Law" / "Un Diritto Senza Terra? Funzioni e Limiti del Principio Di Territorialità nel Diritto Internazionale e Dell’unione Europea. The program is available here. The Santa Clara Journal of International Law will...

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19 Jan

Bond v. United States is one of those cases that promises both more and less than it seems. At first glance, it seems an important and fascinating case because it is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court will revisit any aspect of the famous 1920 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s decision in Missouri v. Holland.  That decision, arguably the most famous...

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19 Jan

Just a quick entry (it's late here in Tokyo) to note that the Supreme Court is going to hear the case of U.S. v. Bond, which, in effect, revisits the question of Missouri v. Holland and the scope of Congress's power to implement U.S. treaty obligations.  Over at Volokh this past week, Nick Rosenkranz and Rick Pildes have been debating that constitutional...

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19 Jan

The week on Opinio Juris started off on a lighter note with Ken's post on the Obama Administration's response to a petition to build the Death Star. And although the administration's answer encourages readers to  "pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field", our comments raised the question of customary inter-stellar law. The pop cultural fun continued later with...

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18 Jan

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has appeared in a court for the first time since his capture last year, in the western town of Zintan, where he is facing charges related to a visit by an ICC lawyer last year. Jurist has more here. US and ECOWAS troops will support France’s mission in Mali. Armed Groups in International Law has an insightful post on...

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17 Jan

[Başak Çalı is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Human Rights at the University College London] This post is the second in a series of three. Last week I suggested that comparing the Von Hannover (2) Case of 2012 and the Fatullayev Case of 2010, both of which concern reviews of freedom of expression decisions given by supreme domestic courts, is a good way of understanding the variable standard of judicial review developed by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Von Hannover Cases (1) and (2)

The Von Hannover (2) Case was the second appearance of Princess Caroline of Monaco before the Strasbourg Court, arguing that the German press had violated her right to privacy. In the first Von Hannover Case of 2004, Princess Caroline advanced the argument that given that she does not hold a public office or have any public functions, the continuous publication of pictures depicting her private life in the German press violated her right to privacy, and the German Courts had failed to protect her. In the first case, the Strasbourg Court found a violation. In the second case it did not. From Princess Caroline’s perspective, this outcome is odd. The explanation lies in how the Strasbourg Court defines its standard of judicial review of domestic courts. 
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17 Jan

A team from the IAEA is in Tehran for nuclear talks with the Iranian regime. The ICC has launched an investigation into the situation in Mali, as Western troops continue to assist Mali's government in its fight against the al-Qaeda linked rebels. The ICC press release can be found here and Jurist has more here. An al-Qaeda affiliate group is holding a group of at least 20 foreign...

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