In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

04 Jul

QS World University Rankings has released its list of the world's top law schools.  Here are the top 30: 1.  Harvard 2.  Oxford 3.  Cambridge 4.  Yale 5.  Stanford 6.  Berkeley 7.  Columbia 8.  London School of Economics 9.  Melbourne 10. NYU 11. Sydney 12. McGill 13. Toronto 14. Chicago 15. Australia National University 16. UCLA 17. Michigan 18. Auckland 19. Victoria University Wellington 20. Monash 21. King's College London 22. University College London 23. University of British Columbia 24. National University Singapore 25. University...

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03 Jul

Ben Wittes, long an advocate for clearer domestic legislation authorizing U.S. detention operations, writes to ask whether my recent post favoring the Senate’s over the House’s version of pending legislation signals a shift in my position opposing new such legislation. The short answer is no. Here’s why. I’d praised the Senate’s draft of force authorization language as follows: “Where...

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02 Jul

Humberto Leal is scheduled for execution in Texas on July 7th. A Mexican national, Leal was not notified of his right to consular assistance under the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations. In light of the International Court of Justice's decision in the Avena case (Mexico v. U.S.), Congress is currently working on legislation to bring the U.S. into compliance with its international...

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29 Jun

The past week has seen various developments in Congress’ efforts to consider legislation regulating the detention of ‘unprivileged enemy belligerents’ at Guantanamo and beyond. Most notable, the Senate finally released the language of its version of the defense authorization bill, and it includes a number of provisions that parallel those passed by the House of Representatives back in May....

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28 Jun

Just a quick note for folks following the Congressional wrangling over U.S. military activity in Libya and the War Powers Resolution:  later this morning, Opinio Juris' own Peter Spiro will be testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. U.S. State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh is also set to testify and, presumably, defend the Administration's position.  Louis Fisher of the...

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27 Jun

I am delighted to announce the publication of my book "The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law."  The book can be ordered from Oxford University Press here; Amazon should have it (at a whopping $8.78 discount) in the next few days.  Here for the last time is the cover: Once again, I want to thank...

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24 Jun

Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR) held in U.S. v. Hamdan that material support for terrorism is a war crime and thus within the jurisdiction of the military commissions.  The decision represents the apotheosis of the US's utterly self-referential approach to international law, because the CMCR managed to reach that conclusion without citing a single non-American...

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23 Jun

More than a decade ago, the U.S. Defense Department's Office of General Counsel (DoD OGC) released a detailed analysis of the way international law would operate to guide U.S. military activity in cyberspace.  It was an impressive effort and is still worth reading today despite all the intervening, and dramatic, changes in the technology and the geopolitical landscape.  At the...

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22 Jun

My future Notre Dame colleague Mary Ellen O'Connell joins the fray criticizing Harold Koh's crabbed definition of hostilities. Here's a taste: Harold Koh, legal adviser to the U.S. State Department, attempted to convince Congress on June 15 that the "limited nature" of U.S. military operations in Libya are not "hostilities" as envisioned in the War Powers Resolution, and, therefore,...

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21 Jun

The controversy over the Administration's interpretation of the War Powers Resolution has some people conflating that issue with the broader one of when the President can use force without congressional authorization. This isn't surprising, since the Administration has used a similar tack in both contexts.  With respect to the War Powers Resolution, the Administration claims the Libya operation does not constitute...

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21 Jun

If you had been thinking about submitting a paper or a panel proposal for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law but had missed the deadline, despair not!  The deadline has been extended to this Friday, June 24th.  The webpage for submissions is here. And, in case you hadn't seen it already, this is the theme statement...

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