Harold Koh’s keynote address today at the University of Virginia conference did a nice job surveying the legal landscape from the Legal Adviser’s perspective. He divided the conflicts into four categories: non-conflicts, soft conflicts, hard conflicts, and hardest conflicts. He then outlined specific examples in his daily docket that fall into each category. Details on the...
The case involves Luis Moreno-Ocampo's decision to remove Ekkehard Witkopf, then a Senior Trial Lawyer with the OTP, from Lubanga. The following paragraphs from the ILO's judgment best summarize what happened: On 15 December 2008 the Deputy Prosecutor informed the complainant orally that the Executive Committee had decided that he would no longer lead the trial of the Lubanga case on...
Matters in Syria are going from bad to worse. I am sure this won't do any harm, but it is not going to help either. It will simply give the illusion that the international community is dong something about Syria. Syrian officials suspected of committing or ordering crimes against humanity should face prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC), the United...
I found this interview in Der Spiegel of Fritz Vahrenholt, a German renewable energy executive and a former Social Democratic Party figure fascinating since he doesn't fit the profile of most climate change skeptics. Varenholt has a new book coming out, "Die Kalte Sonne" (The Cold Sun), rejecting the IPCC's global warming models and climate change predictions. I don't know what to make...
By now, most readers have probably seen the following photo, in which Marine snipers in Afghanistan pose in front of a flag with the runes of the SS: I wasn't planning on blogging about the photo, because the insensitivity of the snipers and the awfulness of the symbolism speak for themselves. But then I saw this ridiculous statement by a...
Should human rights folks still defend him? Spain’s Supreme Court on Thursday convicted the crusading human rights judge Baltasar Garzón of illegally ordering wiretapping in a corruption case and suspended him from the courts for 11 years. I don't know much about the background of this case. It appears to be a very serious conviction, unrelated to his more celebrated investigation of Franco-era...
If you happen to be around Charlottesville tomorrow, Friday, February 10, you might want to come over to a symposium on how to resolve conflicting legal norms in US and foreign courts: The conference – organized by the student-run Virginia Journal of International Law and the John Bassett Moore Society of International Law – will explore how to resolve conflicting legal norms...
Cross-posted at LieberCode. I read with interest the debate between Kevin Heller and Bob Chesney on allegations that recent drone attacks have caused civilian casualties under disturbing circumstances. My views are too extensive for the comments section, so I am taking the liberty of outlining them here -- guest-blogger’s prerogative. Essentially, I think the issue boils down to intent -- which the...
My brilliant St. John's colleague Adam Zimmerman recently posted his thoughts on global trends in the area of mass settlements at Prawfsblawg. He argues that American-style "bottom up" approaches to class actions has been converging with the "top down" approach prevalent in Europe and other jurisdictions. Questions about how to compensate large groups of claimants (e.g., victims of the BP...
Although I've blogged with Opinio Juris for more than six years now, I would never describe myself as a frequent blogger; at my best, I'll give you 2 posts a week, more often just one. Of late, however, my blogging has been even more sporadic. Here's the reason: After more than two years of work, of which the last 3 months were...
Just a note to point you to OJ's Twitter feed, which you can find here. We link to posts on the blog, but there's also added content in the form of pointers to other items that might be of interest to OJ readers. For those of you that haven't taken up the habit, some serious material is floating around the Twitterverse...
As most readers likely know, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism recently released a 22,000 word report documenting the disturbing U.S. practice of using drones to target individuals attending funerals or attempting to provide aid to individuals wounded in previous drone strikes. Here is the report's central conclusion: A three month investigation including eye witness reports has found evidence that at...
