Nicholas Rostow has an interesting piece in the latest American Interest on why the next Administration should come around to international law ("Law Abiding: Restoring America's Global Reputation," teaser here but otherwise by subscription only). He argues that law -- including international law! -- "define who an American is," and for that reason the US "cannot long sustain foreign...
The White House is thinking of starting a blog -- or at least a blog-like substance. From Dana Perino's press conference today:At 6:15 p.m., the President departs the White House on Marine One to head for his trip to the Middle East, the first stop being Jerusalem. One note. As we leave for the Middle East trip today, we will...
Jivan Yakoob is a Canadian citizen who is a permanent resident living in Michigan. According to the indictment, Yakoob went online and arranged to meet with a thirteen-year-old girl in Windsor, Ontario to have sex with her. It's a sting operation, of course, and when Yakoob arrived at the shopping mall in Canada he was arrested. He...
I know Christmas is over, but this award-winning interactive globe, made by Leap Frog, is the perfect gift for curious kids of all ages. Here is the manufacturer's description:Fasten your seatbelts, put your tray table in the upright position and prepare for take off. Next stop? The world. Touch the interactive pen any place on this interactive, talking atlas and...
The beginning of Charles Taylor's trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone is obviously big news, and those who are interested in the trial should check out the live-blogging and analysis here. But Taylor's trial should not overshadow an equally important event related to the civil war in Liberia — the launch of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission:The commission...
Luis Posada Carriles might have escaped justice for his many acts of terrorism, but three Panamanian officials who helped free him from jail in Panama might not be so lucky:Three collaborators of former Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso will be tried on January 14 for violations in the release of Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, judicial sources informed on Monday. Former Minister...
As most of you no doubt already know, David Wippman has been named dean at the University of Minnesota Law School. David is richly qualified for the position, with a strong background as both a scholar and an administrator. The question here is, how does the international law background of a decanal candidate play these days, relative to...
It has been a long time since the Supreme Court has referenced foreign and international sources in constitutional cases. Since Roper was decided in March 2005, the Supreme Court has not issued a single decision relying on the interpretive approach outlined in Roper and Lawrence. In the most recent term, I am not aware of a single Supreme...
I've mentioned in the past various pipe dreams of a US-Canada North American Union, or perhaps just a selective annexation of oil-rich Canadian provinces. Well, former French PM Balladur has gone one step further, proposing a "Union of the West" between the U.S. and Western Europe. Actually, it is not so much a Union as something closer to the old...
Here is a photo of Hitler you probably haven't seen: Strange, isn't it? We are used to seeing Hitler in black-and-white, not color. And that's the way Hitler wanted it, according to the Telegraph (UK) article about the photo:The Nazi leader believed that traditional black and white photographs best highlighted the sinister nature of his regime, presenting dramatic images...
José Padilla—who this past August was convicted of terrorism conspiracy—and John Yoo, one of, if not the, legal architect of the U.S. response to 9/11—have become near-household names in the fights over U.S. detention policies in the so-called "Global War on Terror." Today, that fight took on a much more personal character, as Padilla (and his mother) sued John...
The Pew Research Center has a nice end-of-the-year roundup of public opinion. According to Pew, here are the top public opinion stories of the year that have international themes (numbered in the order they placed in the overall listing): 7. A Better View of Iraq, Up to a Point… For years, public views of the war in Iraq were increasingly negative...
