In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

15 Jul

The massive U.S. financial regulation legislation, known as "Dodd-Frank", is finally heading to President Obama for signature.  In addition to containing a partial reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, the bill also contains some rather stern instructions for the U.S. representative at the International Monetary Fund.  The instructions are so stern that they...

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14 Jul

The much-awaited ICJ advisory opinion on Kosovo will be released on July 22 at 3 p.m (local Hague time): On Thursday 22 July 2010, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will deliver its Advisory Opinion on the question of the Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the Provisional...

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12 Jul

As I predicted, the Pre-Trial Chamber has approved genocide charges for Bashir: The International Criminal Court has issued a second arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir - this time for charges of genocide. He already faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which he denies. The ICC first indicted him in March 2009 but he has not...

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12 Jul

OK, I'll admit up front that this is a relatively narrow topic.  But I've written a chapter on the U.S. Supreme Court's approach to treaties from 1861 to 1900 (you can download it here).  The project's initial appeal was participating in this great conference last year at Santa Clara on the history of the Supreme Court and International Law.  Bill Dodge, Mike Ramsey...

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10 Jul

On her new article in the latest AJIL, "Power and Persuasion in Investment Treaty Interpretation: The Dual Role of States."  Although not the expert Roger and others are on investment law, I've read this closely and think it is a blockbuster article.  Anthea Roberts, currently a junior professor at LSE, is one of the brightest and best of the young-young...

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09 Jul

At least two of the Russian spies are naturalized US citizens -- Vicky Palaez and her husband Mikhail Vasenkov (aka Juan Lazaro).  In Palaez's case, at least, it looks like there was nothing fraudulent about her naturalization (presumably there's a case that her husband's was, though I haven't seen anyone make it). As part of the plea agreement, Palaez agrees to...

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09 Jul

This, over at EJILTalk!  Amrita responds to earlier posts by Brad Roth and me, in a discussion that started out around an EJIL article of mine, The Rise of International Criminal Law.  We all have since moved the discussion to a variety of things, and Amrita's response is very interesting and worth reading in continuing those debates. One of the questions...

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09 Jul

I don't make that claim lightly.  Despite my belief that Moreno-Ocampo has been a disaster as a prosecutor, I have consistently opposed calls for his removal, whether because of his retaliation against an employee for accusing him of sexual harassment or because he decided to pursue genocide charges against Bashir.  I even opposed his ouster when his misuse of confidentiality...

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09 Jul

I hope I'm not stepping on the toes of my Wronging Rights friends, but I couldn't ignore why Linsdey Lohan thinks she doesn't deserve to be sent to jail for 90 days for violating her probation: It is clearly stated in Article 5 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights that...

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08 Jul

I discovered the error this morning, as I was re-reading the Appeals Chamber decision for the joint criminal enterprise section of my book on the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.  The decision cites Einsatzgruppen as an example of JCE I, "basic" joint criminal enterprise, and then attributes the following quote to the Einsatzgruppen tribunal (para. 200): the elementary principle must be borne in...

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