In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

06 Nov

I understand the rationale behind the Obama Administration's policy of engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council.  So I understand why U.S. delegates subjected themselves to sharp and sometimes ridiculous criticism by other states during a session yesterday on United States human rights practices. A delegation of top officials, led by Assistant Secretary of State Esther Brimmer, gave diplomats at the...

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05 Nov

Duke Law is hosting the annual Duke-Harvard Foreign Relations Law Workshop tomorrow, and, as usual offers a stellar line-up.  This year's topic is The Political Economy of Foreign Relations Law.  For those interested in knowing more, here's the line-up. Session 1: War Powers Peter D. Feaver, Seven Provocations on Domestic Politics of Foreign Relations William G. Howell, Wartime Presidents Douglas L. Kriner, More than...

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05 Nov

A few days ago, Roger (and others) discussed the possibility of legal challenges to Oklahoma's constitutional amendment prohibiting its judges from considering international and Sharia law.  I have my own questions about the amendment under the Supremacy Clause beyond the more obvious arguments that Oklahoma Courts must apply treaties that fall within Article VI's ambit (putting aside for now debates over whether non-self-execution limits...

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04 Nov

A couple of weeks ago, New Stream Dream accused me of never believing individuals who -- like Khadr and Lynne Stewart -- confess to committing crimes.  Well, I believe this confession: In his book, titled "Decision Points," Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about...

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03 Nov

The following is a guest post by David Glazier, an Associate Professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. As Opinio Juris readers likely recall, there are two ongoing federal prosecutions in Norfolk, Virginia before different judges of Somali pirates who made the boneheaded mistakes of attempting attacks on two separate U.S. Navy warships. (Hey, it was dark!)  In the first...

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03 Nov

At least the war criminal lost: The basic facts are undisputed: on 15 April 2004 Ilario Pantano, then a second lieutenant with the US marines, stopped and detained two Iraqi men in a car near Falluja. The Iraqis were unarmed and the car found to be empty of weapons. Pantano ordered the two men to search the car...

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03 Nov

Yesterday voters in Oklahoma voted overwhelmingly (70% in favor to 30% against) to ban the use of international law and Sharia law in state courts. It appears that the referendum will be headed to the courts for review, for as my colleague Michael Helfand has noted, the ban on Sharia law may well be unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The...

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03 Nov

What does the change of power in the U.S. Congress (at least in the House) mean for U.S. attitudes toward international law and foreign policy?  Not much, I think, since I think foreign policy is one of the few areas where we can imagine the new more conservative Republicans and President Obama working together better than he did with progressive...

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01 Nov

This according to AP: The sentence was handed down Sunday under a plea bargain in which the young Canadian admitted to five war crimes charges, including killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Under the deal, the judge was limited to the eight-year sentence and had to ignore the recommendation of a military jury that Khadr serve 40...

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31 Oct

Human Rights Watch's Tom Malinowski and Ben Wittes -- whom, for the record, I consider a friend -- have been having an interesting and useful dialogue about targeted killing.  Here is how Malinowski lays out HRW's position: Our position on targeted killing is that its use can be legally justified so long as it is limited to situations involving a...

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