I expect the legal issues arising out of a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities are going to get hotter in the coming weeks. Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution offers this argument in favor of the legality of Israel's attack drawing from the doctrine of "preemptive" self defense (h/t Jack Goldsmith at Lawfare). The charter of the United Nations affirms...
Here is the final post in my conversation with Prof. David Weissbrodt on Kiobel and corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute. It is worth emphasizing why I think the "choice of law" question is so crucial to resolving this case (and why Justice Breyer agrees with me on this point). In its 2004 decision, Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, the Supreme Court decided...
Anton Metlitsky, an attorney that is defending Rio Tinto from a similar ATS lawsuit as Kiobel's, drops me this useful reminder about another hurdle facing the Kiobel plaintiffs. In a recent post, you say that “the only way plaintiffs will prevail is if they convince a majority of the Court (meaning Justice Kennedy), that the question of corporate liability is really...
The Kiobel oral arguments have spawned lots of media coverage and commentary. I think this matters more than usual because the way this case plays out in the court of public opinion is going to have an effect on the justices. For instance, Dahlia Lithwick at Slate concludes that.. The skepticism of the court’s conservative bloc notwithstanding, this is a case...
That South China Sea dispute just won't go away. Not as long as there's still oil and gas down there...
Here is the second round of my exchange with Professor David Weissbrodt over at Pointoflaw. I begin by citing the following exchange during Kiobel's oral argument yesterday. SULLIVAN: ...
I am participating this week in a discussion on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, the case on corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute that will be argued tomorrow at the Supreme Court, at the Manhattan Institute's Point of Law Blog. My interlocutor will be Professor David Weissbrodt of the University of Minnesota. Here is a snippet of my opening...
I hadn't heard about this story, and I am still rather stunned to read that ...
I'm not sure I approve of this trend: Legal claims can now be served via Facebook in Britain, after a landmark ruling in the English High Court. Mr Justice Teare gave the go-ahead for the social networking site to be used in a commercial case where there were difficulties locating one of the parties. Facebook is routinely used to serve claims in Australia...
Chevron strikes back, and the pro-Ecuador NGOs are not happy about it. WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- An "order" issued Thursday from a private investor arbitration panel purporting to freeze a nine-year environmental litigation against Chevron in Ecuador violates international law and will have little or no impact on any potential enforcement action against the oil giant in...
[Vince Vitowsky has asked me to post this announcement from Joe D. Whitley about an upcoming ABA two-day event that might interest readers.] Thursday, March 22, 2012-Friday, March 23, 2012 Capital Hilton 1001 16th Street NW Washington, District of Columbia, United States 20036 As Program Chair and Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section, I would like to invite you to...
[The good folks at VJIL asked that I pass the following announcement along] Now in its fifty-second year, the Virginia Journal of International Law is the oldest continuously published, student-edited law journal in the United States. The Journal addresses issues such as international commercial transactions, trade law, international litigation and arbitration, international organizations, international human rights law, and comparative law. The...
