For those of you interested in constitutional comparativism, my latest article, Roper v. Simmons and Our Constitution in International Equipoise, 53 UCLA L. Rev. 1 (2005) was just published and is now available on SSRN here. It essentially is a postscript to my earlier (and much longer) article, In Search of a Theory for Constitutional Comparativism, 52 UCLA L....
That is a reference to "Opinio Juris" in Chinese. Links to Opinio Juris by other blogs are always welcome. But when a Chinese blogger successfully links to Opinio Juris, it takes on much greater importance. Why? Because all news is filtered in China, and a blogger republishing prohibited news in China does so under pain of severe sanction.The Wall Street...
Earlier this week Professors Philippe Sands and John Yoo debated global legal rules at an event sponsored by the World Affairs Council. The full debate is available here. Here is a brief excerpt of Philippe Sands’ opening remarks (beginning at the 12th minute): "[The Bush Administration has undertaken] a systemic assault on global rules… But it is not states that...
A summary of yesterday's Supreme Court oral argument in Gonzalez v. O Centro is available at SCOTUSblog. The case raises concerns about the interplay of two federal statutes--the Controlled Substances Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act--and a treaty, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.From the summary it appears that the international law arguments did not hold much sway with...
There is still more on Judge Alito and international law. It seems remarkable that one appellate court judge could be faced within the span of two years two terribly wrenching asylum applications. But Judge Alito was. As I recently posted, his decision in Chen v. Ashcroft addressed the denial of asylum to someone engaged to a person forced to undergo...
My vote for the most important international law case of the month is Broniowski v. Poland, the ECHR decision that paves the way for "class action" human rights litigation in Europe. As discussed in my earlier post, an international tribunal in Europe may now order systemic, national relief to a class of similarly-situated claimants. The decision that launches this "pilot...
A quick review of Judge Alito's decisions suggests very few that have international law implications. One recent decision that merits significant attention is Chen v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 221 (3d Cir. 2004). At issue is whether the fiancée of a woman who was forced to undergo an abortion in China is entitled to asylum.Factually the case is extraordinarily sympathetic. A...
This is an interesting story. Under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, Canada has charged a Rwandan living in Canada of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Under Article 8 of the Act, Canada can charge anyone for genocide if the crime or the criminal has a Canadian nexus. This is very broadly defined to include (1)...
Albany Law Review sponsored a symposium today on the topic of “Outsourcing Authority: Citation to Foreign Court Precedent in Domestic Jurisprudence.” It included a number of speakers, including Ken Kersch, Susan Karamanian, John McGinnis, John Baker, Mark Tushnet and yours truly. Wonderful debate about Roper v. Simmons, Lawrence v. Texas, Charming Betsy and the general trend toward...
Justices Breyer and Scalia have now taken their debate about foreign precedent on the road. They were in Melbourne, Australia this weekend to discuss with Australian High Court Justices Kirby and Heydon the topic of judicial activisim. A summary of the discussion is in a John O'Sullivan column here. (No word yet from the University of Melbourne as to whether...
While on the subject of foreign precedent, the ABA has published a letter and issued a news report that sharply criticizes H.Res. 97, the resolution that expresses the sense that "judicial interpretations regarding the meaning of the Constitution ...
