Like many other geeky lawyer types, I have been scanning the arguments in the Supreme Court today for cluses about the ultimate result in Boumediene. But I couldn't resist posting about this neat article about legal questions arising out of European participation on the International Space Station. The space station currently exists as a legal patchwork of about...
The United Nations Committee Against Torture has issued a statement condemning some uses of tasers as a form of torture that violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture. I don't have a link to their report, and I would be curious to see their analysis. Which kinds of taser use constitutes torture? Or is tasering something that automatically violates...
The ICC is standing tough in Uganda: The International Criminal Court ruled out Thursday canceling arrest warrants for Ugandan rebel commanders, saying the rebel leaders and not the warrants are the obstacle to peace. "It is time to marginalise, isolate and arrest individuals sought by the court. The international community must give them no support," ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in...
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to consider the constitutionality of a handgun ban in the District of Columbia under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. This will be a blockbuster case that will keep Eugene Volokh even busier for the next few months. As with the interpretations of other constitutional provisions, the Second Amendment could be placed with...
The hybrid war crimes court in Cambodia, which is known as the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia" (or ECCC) has arrested one of its biggest defendants yet: Former head of state Khieu Samphan during the Khmer Rouge era. (See Kevin's list of likely defendants here). And he is getting a true believer as his defense lawyer. ...
I had the good fortune to attend, and participate in, Brooklyn Law School's conference yesterday on Corporate Liability for Grave Breaches of International Law. It was good to have a chance, for instance, to argue with Professors Bill Dodge and Beth Stephens one more time about what exactly Sosa v. Alvarez Machain means this time with respect to corporations....
The apparently insatiable Japanese appetite for whale meat is driving yet another Japanese whaling expedition to the South Pacific. This time, Japan is planning to hunt the much more endangered humpback whales. Japan is apparently hunting these whales under Article VIII of the Protocol to the International Whaling Convention: Notwithstanding anything contained in this Convention any Contracting Government may grant...
Lawprof and LA Times columnist Rosa Brooks had a strange but interesting column last week on how torture has become the new "abortion" in U.S. presidential politics. She accuses GOP activists of making the approval of coercive interrogation techniques a litmus test akin to being against abortion. I haven't seen much evidence of this -- McCain is...
A team of FBI investigators has concluded that the September killings of 14 Iraqi civilians by the U.S. military contractor Blackwater violated deadly-force rules security contractors. Although the investigation is continuing, this seems to settle part of the factual dispute over the Blackwater shootings. But can Blackwater's personnel face criminal prosecution? I am not sure, actually. This is a bit...
But there are few fireworks in this Guardian-sponsored exchange. Bellinger comes off as a bit defensive and is trying to introduce a new argument: Let's move on. Here is the main thrust of the exchange: Philippe Sands: Are there any circumstances in which you could imagine the use of water boarding to be consistent with international law? John Bellinger: Again, we've...
can be found here. Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSBlog's report on the argument can be found here. My reading of the transcript, which is not as thorough as Lyle's actually reporting on it, suggests that there is substantial hostility to the direct enforceability of ICJ judgments (Scalia, Roberts, Alito) and somewhat less substantial hostility from those same justices to the...
For what its worth, I should be on Kevin's favorite news source, the Fox News Channel, around 3 p.m. New York time today discussing issues related to the Medellin case. *3:30 p.m. Actually, it wasn't worth much, since I got bumped for a breaking news story on the Cleveland school shootings. Oh well, that's cable news! ...
