I've long thought that any scholar who wants to maintain his or her credibility should stay far away from the US government, no matter which party is in power. Harold Koh is a case in point. Others have highlighted his problematic testimony about targeted killing, which continued to maintain the Bush administration's fictions --...
Every time that I teach international criminal law, at least one student writes on whether you could prosecute the Burmese junta for crimes against humanity. As a matter of substantive ICL, the answer is clearly yes. The problem is jurisdictional -- who is going to prosecute them? Apparently, the UK thinks it should be the ICC via a Security Council...
Update: I have had a chance to watch the video twice — I strongly recommend watching it, as it adds considerable language to the statements in the ASIL press release. Given how much I have pressed publicly for a statement by the administration’s lawyers, I want to say this much even while I’m still doing a careful lawyerly parsing of...
I love Glenn Greenwald. He catches Obama in a remarkable -- and shameless -- act of hypocrisy. Obama on why America can't investigate the systematic human-rights abuses that were ordered at the highest levels of its government: I'm a strong believer that it's important to look forward and not backwards. And Obama on why Indonesia must investigate the systematic human-rights abuses...
(Note: I hear Rumors, Unverified Gossip, and Speculation that Legal Adviser Koh will give a formal statement of views on targeted killing and drone warfare at his keynote address at ASIL this week. I would certainly welcome such a statement, of course - I hope that it would be sufficiently broad so as to encompass what the President is actually...
I'm not much of an Obama fan -- though I think the health care bill is a step in the right direction -- but at least I'm not certifiably insane. From a recent non-partisan Harris poll: 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist. 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe...
The Eleventh Circuit in United States v. Frank has ruled that a child sex trafficking statute applies extraterritorially. The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2251A, provides that: “[w]hoever purchases ...
In case you haven't seen it, make sure to check out Jane Mayer's demolition of Marc Thiessen's book-length apologia for torture, "Courting Disaster." As her review demonstrates, it's much easier to defend torture when you distort nearly everything. UPDATE: This, I think, is the money quote: The publication of “Courting Disaster” suggests that Obama’s avowed determination “to look forward, not...
Today's Financial Times has a story on how unhappy U.S. businesses have become about Chinese government restrictions interfering with their access to Chinese markets. So, one can understand how U.S. exporters would welcome news that the United States and China are getting closer to including a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). And, let's be clear, this would be the mother-of-all BITs, given...
Bangladesh has ratified the Rome Statute, making it the 111th member of the International Criminal Court. Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to sign the Statute, which it did on July 17, 1998. I don't know what explains the 12-year gap between signature and ratification; if any readers know, please chime in below. Bangladesh's ratification will have immediate dividends. ...
FADE IN: INT. KEVIN'S OFFICE -- DAY KEVIN (obscenely young, ridiculously handsome) sits at his desk, poring through archival material. An AUSSIE STUDENT (even younger, not as handsome) enters. AUSSIE: Hey, sorry to interrupt. Just wanted to say congratulations. I heard the U.S. passed universal health care. KEVIN: Thanks, but it's not actually universal. More than 20 million people still won't have health insurance. AUSSIE:...
