Weekend Roundup: February 9-15, 2013

This week on Opinio Juris, Julian noticed the apparent truce between the American right and the ICC, but didn’t go as far as calling it peace. Further on the ICC, Kevin pointed out a flagrant mistake at the Washington Times, and argued that the OTP was wrong in concluding that Libya is able to try Saif Gaddafi, because the Rome Statute does not consider a trial in absentia to meet that standard. Talking about criminal prosecutions, Peggy asked whether Pope Benedict XVI could be sued in the child sex abuse cases, when he retires later this month.

Julian discussed the latest interim order in the saga of the Lago Agrio case between Chevron and Ecuador, and wondered whether there is anything stopping Ecuador from dragging its feet in complying with the order. Roger weighed in in the comments.

In another post, Roger reflected on the role of intellectuals as Doubters-in-Chief of a society, and how often we take this for granted in a free society. Following the reference to the importance of citizenship to society in Obama’s State of the Union address, echoing earlier speeches, Peter argued that this is unfortunately more of an ideal not reflected by reality.

Peter also drew our attention to the issue of private rights of action under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction that is likely to reach the Supreme Court after the Second Circuit split with the Fourth Circuit.

To finish off the week, Deborah gave her view on the increasingly popular argument to create a drone court with jurisdiction to review targeted killing decisions.

If you want to read more this weekend, can we refer you to Kevin’s new his essay on Charles Taylor’s sentencing or an essay by Noam Lubell and Nathan Derejko on the Geography of NIAC, recommended by Kevin? Or, if you’d rather turn to writing, check out our events and announcements post. Kevin also posted a call for papers for the newly launched London Review of International Law. In the spirit of the Review’s intention to include “non-traditional forms of engagement with international legal themes”, Roger posted the poem Cruel Window No More.

You can also find our summary of international law news in our weekday news wraps.

Have a nice weekend!