In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

09 May

[Ingrid Wuerth is Professor of Law and Director of International Legal Studies at Vanderbilt University Law School.  You can reach her at:  Ingrid.wuerth@vanderbilt.edu.] This post examines two aspects of the Fourth Circuit’s 2012 decision on remand in Yousuf v. Samantar.  Samantar has petitioned the Supreme Court for certiorari again, and the initial briefing on the cert. petition should conclude soon.  Now is...

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09 May

Another clothing factory has caught fire in Bangladesh, killing eight; this news comes after a recent factory collapse with a death toll now over 900, with both tragedies putting international safety standards in the spotlight.  In other Bangladesh news, the war crimes tribunal is poised to hand down its fourth verdict today over a senior member of the Jamaat-e-Islami political party;...

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09 May

An article in China's leading state-run paper, the People's Daily, suggesting that the time may be ripe to reopen the question of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa has already sparked sharp reactions.  The WSJ's blog on China picked up the story, as did this Business Insider post, headlined: "China Now Says It May Own Okinawa, Too." Other even more lurid headlines: "China Demands Japan Cede...

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08 May

Former State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh spoke yesterday at the Oxford Union. His speech, "How to End the Forever War?" (link to .pdf) is a reflection on the Obama Administration's  foreign policy, in particular in regards to the rule of law.  It is also a talk set to contrast the Obama Administration's approach to international law and foreign policy...

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08 May

[Milena Sterio holds a dual J.D./maitrise en droit degree, and she is Associate Professor of Law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where she specializes in International Law and International Criminal Law.] The Court of Appeal of Versailles, France, ruled last week on an important case regarding the civil liability of French companies for their role in the construction of a light...

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08 May

[Jordan Wells is a third-year law student at New York University School of Law.] The discussion up to this point naturally has centered on the “touch and concern” language of the majority opinion and what that opinion and the concurrences mean for ATS cases involving law of nations violations that occur abroad.  Relatively little analysis has focused on the original questions...

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08 May

Internet communications companies have reported that Syria has been cut off of "internet communication with the rest of the world." The World Trade Organization has a new Director General: Roberto Azevedo. The ICC postponed Kenyan Vice President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang's trial as the Prosecutor is seeking to add five witnesses and the Defense has requested to vacate the...

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07 May

When I was writing my book on citizenship several years ago, I wanted to take on what I thought was a standard trope of American political discourse: "the rights and obligations of citizenship." Though it hardly seemed like an alien phrase, I had trouble finding good examples of its use by major political leaders. I won't have that problem any more. President...

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07 May

Another extraordinary rendition case has been launched in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that will be relevant to those following Guantanamo detainees:  Abu Zubaydah v Poland involves the CIA’s black sites. The filings are available here.  A press release by Interrights, co-counsel (with Joseph Margulies and the Polish firm Jankowski & Co.) describes the significance of the case as follows: The case...

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07 May

Ted Cruz is running for president, and an election-addled media is training its sights on his nascent candidacy in the absence of many alternatives this early in the cycle. His birth outside the United States is inevitably raising the eligibility question. Cruz was born in Calgary to a US-citizen mother and a non-citizen father. Under section 301(g) of the Nationality Act,...

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07 May

Senegal Justice Minister Aminate Toure and Chadian Justice Minister Jean-Bernard Badare agreed to allow Senegalese judges to investigate various situations in Chad ahead of the prosecution of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre. Fifty countries and organisations are gathered in London for an international conference aimed at preventing Somalia from slipping back into abject lawlessness. North Korea has removed two missiles from launch...

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06 May

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) recently released its 2012 annual report, which documents its remarkable institutional transformation. Established in 1899, the PCA is an intergovernmental organization based in the Peace Palace in The Hague.  Although it has a long and interesting history, including housing the Iran – U.S. Claims Tribunal for a number of years, over the last 12 years the...

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