I'm dashing off to China in a few hours, but I couldn't resist a brief post on the Second Circuit's denial of rehearing on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch. Does anyone doubt this case is headed for the Supreme Court? Which is not to say that I disagree with the panel majority on the merits. indeed, I have offered a full-scale...
Richard Falk, professor of international law at Princeton and U.N. Special Rapporteur for the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, is rejecting calls for him to resign from his U.N. position due to alleged comments he made about a 9/11 conspiracy theory. NEW YORK – Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinian territories...
It turns out that Oklahoma's anti-international law/ sharia law amendment has started a trend. According to this report, six states -- Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and Wyoming- are considering similar legislation. The National Center on State Courts, a nonpartisan court research organization, reports that lawmakers in six states — Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and Wyoming— recently have introduced legislation that would...
My French is pretty rusty, but I think that is the upshot of this decision from the Conseil Constitutionnel, France's highest body for reviewing questions under the French Constitution. As Maggie Gallagher, a leading opponent of same-sex marriage in the U.S. notes, this decision (along with a similar decision by the European Court of Human Rights) could be important in...
The U.N. Security Council heard a proposal yesterday for the establishment of special courts in Somalia and Tanzania to try suspected pirates. 25 January 2011 – The United Nations special envoy on maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia today proposed the setting up of two special courts inside the country and one in Tanzania to try suspected pirates, saying the...
The Chinese (Taiwan) Society of International Law is pleased to hold the International Law Association (ILA) Asia-Pacific Regional Conference from May 29 to June 1, 2011 at the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, a Four Seasons Hotel, in Taipei, Taiwan. The theme of the conference is “Contemporary International Law Issues in the Asia Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges.” This conference will provide a...
I've been restrained in criticizing state laws that purport to ban the use of international or foreign law in state courts, as in Oklahoma and now one proposed in Arizona. I think they are largely harmless, and probably constitutional. But I am still struck by the unusual and even strange wrinkle in the Arizona proposal. 1. Requires courts, when making...
Even more revelations in the plagiarism scandal that has caused an uproar among the faculty of the University of the Philippines and the Philippines Supreme Court. MANILA, Philippines – Supreme Court Justice Mariano del Castillo plagiarized at least 20 more times in the decision on the comfort women case (Isabelita Vinuya v. Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo), apart from those already brought to the...
Pirates are non-state actors who cause serious international problems that are sometimes beyond the reach or interest of most governments. Mercenaries are non-state actors who can combat pirates without implicating the political and legal problems faced by regular armed forces. And so, it is not surprising, or unwelcome, to hear that mercenaries are getting involved in Somalia. WASHINGTON — Erik...
Actually, I am not quite sure, since all I have is this report on the recent decision of the Supreme Judicial Circuit of Massachusetts holding that the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations gives foreign nationals legal rights to the notification of their consular officials if they are arrested by Massachusetts authorities: Massachusetts, Cordy wrote, will take steps now to bring the...
The U.N. is an amorphous, complex organization with many autonomous parts, as commenters on my post below have noted. This means that when one autonomous part of the U.N. does something stupid or bad, it is not always fair to attribute that to the organization as a whole, or the Secretariat. On the other hand, part of what gives the...
OK, that's not quite it, but still this story (weeks old I know) is somewhat surprising. UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan last week flew a man indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court to a peace meeting in the flashpoint Abyei region, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. The mission, known as UNMIS, transported Ahmed Haroun, a Sudanese...
