Probably many of you are reading, as I am now, the just-released language of a draft UN Security Council resolution (reported by the press as P-5 approved) on Syria's chemical weapons. I'm particularly interested in this, as I'm talking tomorrow at ASIL's monthly brown bag lunch for Congressional staff on Syria and the use of force - it's a descriptive...
It's been another busy week in international law and international relations. Here's a recap of a selection of the headlines from around the world: Middle East Israel and Palestine have agreed to intensify their peace talks with greater participation by the United States. Iran's foreign minister expressed hope that a meeting with top diplomats from the US and five other powers will jump-start...
For the non-twitterati, Omar al-Bashir has -- unsurprisingly -- cancelled his trip to the UN. That decision reflects an underappreciated "soft power" aspect of the ICC: even an unexecuted arrest warrant limits the freedom of a suspect facing charges. There may be no reasonable prospect of Bashir being arrested anytime soon. But there is also no reasonable prospect that he...
[John P. Cerone is Visiting Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy (Tufts University) and Professor of Law at the New England School of Law. He has also served as Special Advisor to the US delegation to the UN Human Rights Council and as a legal advisor to international criminal courts.] Omar al Bashir, President of...
I've been surprised how quiet the Obama Administration has been in terms of treaty actions in its 5 years in office -- you can pretty much count on one hand the number of treaties that have gone through the Senate Advice and Consent process (and nothing at all has happened this Congress). Now, some of the blame for this certainly...
[See update at end of this post] Russia's government has recently been talking up international law, so it will be interesting to see if they follow through with plans to charge Greenpeace activists with piracy. MOSCOW — Russia opened a criminal case Tuesday against Greenpeace activists, accusing them of piracy for attempting to stage a protest on an Arctic oil rig. A Greenpeace spokeswoman...
Things are continuing to gear up here in the United States for the big foreign affairs law case of the year -- U.S. v. Bond, which, among other things may allow the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit one of its most significant foreign affairs law cases ever - Missouri v. Holland. Bond asks two questions: (1) whether the Constitution limits...
Ryan has a fascinating but problematic post today at Just Security in which he takes international-law scholars to task for opportunistically flip-flopping on whether the US is involved in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda. Here is the crux of his argument, taken from the post's introductory paragraph: Those arguments have been inconsistent with regard to one fundamental legal question: whether the...
It's been over five months since the Supreme Court rendered its landmark decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. A quick review of lower court decisions suggests that Kiobel marks the end of the Filartiga revolution in the United States. The most significant lower court ruling to date is Balintulo v. Daimler AG where the Second Circuit rejected...
Just Security is officially up and running. The lineup of contributors is amazing: the Editors-in-Chief are Steve Vladeck and Ryan Goodman; the Executive Editors are Mary deRosa, the ACLU's Jameel Jaffer, Fionnuala Ni Aolian, and Beth Van Schaack; and the Founding Editors are too numerous too mention but all extremely well known. (I won't play favorites by naming some of...
Wow! I kind of assumed all the posturing and tough talk from U.S. and ICC officials would scare off Sudan's President Bashir from visiting NY next week to address the UN General Assembly. But it appears he really is coming. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, said on Sunday he planned to attend...
The Honourable Justice Dalveer Bhandari – one of India’s most distinguished jurists – will visit York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School from September 22 to 26. RSVP to events can be found here and here. The Vermont Journal of Environmental Law ("VJEL") at Vermont Law School is pleased to invite you to attend the 2013 Symposium entitled "Rising Temps and Emerging Threats: The Intersection of Climate Change...
