In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

02 Mar

[caption id="attachment_11549" align="alignleft" width="68" caption=" "][/caption] [Matthew Waxman is an Associate Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School.] I am delighted to comment on Professor Blum's provocative and thoughtful Article. The Article highlights in new ways a fundamental tension within international humanitarian law (IHL): that this body of law that disallows "lesser-evil" analysis in many contexts is itself a giant...

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02 Mar

[caption id="attachment_11545" align="alignleft" width="90" caption=" "][/caption] [We are pleased to introduce the second part of the YJIL Online Symposium discussion of articles from Vol. 35-1. Today, we are delighted to host a discussion of Gabriella Blum's recent article with a comment by Professor Matthew Waxman later today. Professor Blum is an Assistant Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.]...

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01 Mar

[caption id="attachment_11512" align="alignleft" width="120" caption=" "][/caption] It’s an honor to have two so distinguished scholars comment on my article. As always, I learn from reading their commentary and I thank each for his insights. Two quick reactions. First, Professor Johnson raises an interesting semantic question (which I do not address in the article): If a state “unsigns” a treaty, is it still a...

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01 Mar

Cross-posted at Balkinization Earlier this term, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide the latest issue in the sad case of the Uighurs still held at Guantanamo Bay after having been cleared of “enemy combatant” status by both Bush and Obama Administrations. U.S. treaty obligations restricting the ‘refoulement’ of individuals to countries where they’re likely to face torture have effectively...

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01 Mar

[caption id="attachment_11525" align="alignleft" width="68" caption=" "][/caption] [Larry Johnson is an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School.  From 2006-2008, he served at the United Nations  Headquarters as the Assistant-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.]  Professor Michael J. Glennon in his post warned American policy-makers to be wary of a “time bomb” that could explode in May – the adoption of a vague, new crime of aggression...

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01 Mar

[caption id="attachment_11521" align="alignleft" width="120" caption=" "][/caption] [Anthony Clark Arend is a Professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University]. When the Obama Administration came into office over a year ago, it was faced with a daunting task. The previous Administration had run rough-shot over international law dealing with the use of military force.  A man that would be Attorney General would call...

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01 Mar

[caption id="attachment_11512" align="alignleft" width="120" caption=" "][/caption] [Michael J. Glennon is Professor of Law at The Fletcher School at Tufts University] The article addresses a question that is particularly important for the United States. The Obama Administration has begun to express a renewed interest in the International Criminal Court (ICC), after almost a decade of distance between the Court and the United States....

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01 Mar

The wide-ranging book, which is edited by Carsten Stahn and Larissa van den Herik and published by Cambridge/TMC Asser, is well worth checking out.  Here is the table of contents: Part I. The Influence of Scholars and Practitioners on the Development and Conceptualization of International Criminal Law: 1. 'Satires of circumstance': some notes on war crimes trials and irony...

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28 Feb

At least according to Dominic Hughes, a BBC reporter who obviously can't be bothered to know what he's talking about: Perhaps not surprisingly Radovan Karadzic has been a reluctant participant in this trial. The former leader of the Bosnian Serbs has appeared just a few times, regularly boycotting the process. Apparently, "once" now qualifies as "regularly."  Good job, BBC! ADDENDUM: Hughes also claims that...

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28 Feb

My new Weekly Standard essay - although “polemic” is probably closer to it.  And thanks, Julian, for the plug below! Well, regular readers have been hearing about this piece for a while, and I have posted various arguments from it (concerning targeted killing and Predator drones and the CIA and armed conflict and self-defense, and my general concern that the...

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28 Feb

McGill University law students have started a new blog about international law, Legal Frontiers. Their official launch post states: The goal of Legal Frontiers is to create a scholarly, social network where students interested in International law can identify key issues and challenges; test new theories; and draw attention to important causes, cases or alternative points of view. Having been inspired...

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27 Feb

Both Humblelawstudent and Stuart Taylor have criticized my previous post.  Both misunderstand the federal torture statute and the concept of torture in important -- and unfortunately all too common -- ways, so it is worth explaining their errors in a separate post. Let's begin with HLS.  He claims that, contrary to my assertion, "the statute requires the interrogator to actually...

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