In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Adil Haque

02 May

[Adil Ahmad Haque is Professor of Law and Judge Jon O. Newman Scholar at Rutgers Law School. This post is part of our week-long symposium on soldier self-defense and international law.] Suppose that a soldier from State A intentionally kills a civilian in State B. Maybe State A is fighting an international armed conflict against State B. Maybe State A is fighting a non-international armed...

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01 Jun

I'm currently making preliminary revisions to a forthcoming article in which I try to do new and exciting things with proportionality review under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. While attempting to strengthen my original arguments I've stumbled upon an issue which might be of interest to Opinio readers. Let me first set the stage. There are three basic...

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24 May

Back in March, Kevin posted and I commented on the prosecution of Abdul Rahman for apostasy in Afghanistan. Rahman was ultimately deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial, and the case was dropped. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid, the former president of Indonesia, published an editorial opposing the criminalization of apostasy in yesterday's Washington Post. Wahid makes several arguments, based on text...

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22 May

This year’s launch of the Journal of Philosophy of International Law and the International Political Theory Beacon reflects and will no doubt serve to prolong a rapid expansion of philosophical interest in international law during the last few years. Philosophy & Public Affairs, the leading English-language journal of moral and political philosophy has featured at least one article on international...

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19 May

It seems international law scholars with a philosophical temperament will no longer be forced to troll the library stacks in search of the latest articles bearing on their interests but not searchable on Lexis or Westlaw. Starting next week, the Editorial Board of the web-based International Political Theory Beacon promises to periodically select the finest articles, essays, and book reviews...

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16 May

TIME magazine has a nice recap of the successes and setbacks of pro-democracy movements in Arab countries over the last year. In news which will hopefully delight Opinio readers, distinguished comparative law professor Chibli Mallat is running for the Lebanese presidency in a campaign some call symbolic but which he insists is entirely serious. The article focusses on Egypt's Revolt...

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16 May

Tony Blair is considering calling for restrictions on the U.K.'s landmark 1998 Human Rights Act, which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into national law. Apparently, (i) rogue judges are (ii) using international law to (iii) put criminals back on the streets, (iv) ignore the rights of victims, and (v) endanger national security. I can't imagine where Blair, whose...

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15 May

The New York Times reports that the United States has decided to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya and remove it from the list of countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism. Condoleezza Rice called the moves "tangible results that flow from the historic decisions taken by Libya's leadership in 2003 to renounce terrorism and to abandon its weapons of...

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