In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

28 Apr

No sooner had I read Peter's thought-provoking post about transparency in arbitration than I received a link to a complete webcast of this month's arbitration before the Permanent Court of Arbitration between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army over the Abyei region.  This appears to be the first videotape/webcast of an arbitration between a state and...

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28 Apr

Maybe. In any event, Harold Koh's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be webcast live starting around 2:15 (thanks to Mark Shulman for the tip).  I predict a very boring hearing where nothing of substance will be asked, and nothing of substance will be offered as an answer either.  This should work to Koh's benefit, of course. Boring...

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27 Apr

The National Court has reassigned the case from Judge Garzon to Judge Eloy Velasco.  CNN says that "Judge Velasco is thought to have little, if any, experience in these kinds of cases."  Apparently, CNN has never heard of The Google, because it took me about 30 seconds to learn that, in January, Judge Velasco relied on Spain's universal jurisdiction law...

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27 Apr

Chris Borgen and I have an op-ed in today's Philadelphia Inquirer -- you can access it here -- defending Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh's nomination to serve as the Legal Adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Our inspiration for writing it was Rick Santorum's recent column, which suggested Harold Koh was un-American, and launched a general attack on international law having any...

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26 Apr

  For a fascinating google-map of individual cases identified swine-flu occurrences, see here.  (Can't vouch for its accuracy, however, and as H/T Futurepundit points out, it will rapidly get overwhelmed as more cases become identified over time.) Among the interviews I participated in as one of the experts on the Gingrich-Mitchell UN reform commission back in 2005 was one with a senior...

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26 Apr

Despite his checkered past, I'm beginning to like Jacob Zuma, who is set to become the next President of South Africa, more and more: The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will not be invited to the inauguration ceremony of the South African president-elect Jacob Zuma, according to news reports. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) headed by Zuma has an absolute majority...

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25 Apr

State Department Legal Adviser nominee Harold Koh's written answers to pre-hearing questions asked by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have been posted online at Senator Lugar's site.  The Q&A goes for over 60 pages. I have only skimmed it and so, for now, I will simply point out questions/answers that may be of particular interest to Opinio Juris readers (and of course, I...

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24 Apr

And proves he is neither very funny nor even remotely interested in anything resembling intelligent debate: Hypothesize that the Obama administration, or perhaps foreign/international courts, prosecute and convict various officials of the Bush administration. Further assume that the new President who takes office in 2013 or 2017 has promised "I will ensure that the crimes of the previous administration are vigorously...

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24 Apr

Harold Koh, who is moderating the last Reisman panel on human rights, asks the panel about the legal status of human rights committees like the CEDAW committee, obliquely referring to a controversy over the legal status of such committees' interpretive authority. Hmm...

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24 Apr

I, along with an impressive group of legal scholars from around the world, have gathered in New Haven to celebrate the career and scholarship of Yale Law Professor W. Michael Reisman. So, a wonderful opportunity to blog! But I forgot to bring my laptop, so all I have is my lousy iPhone. Still, I will try to share a few...

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24 Apr

Interesting item from The Economist here.  It is becoming increasingly clear that any important international process or institution is going to be held to transparency norms.  And where there is power, there must also be accountability.  In the dispute resolution context, that takes the form of NGO participation. Why shouldn't NGOs be able to participate in proceedings with public policy...

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