I want to share a small vignette that I think symbolizes the stresses on countries that were once part of the Soviet Bloc but are now unsure if their future will be in seeking a closer alliance with Russia or with the West. In an article I published earlier this year I called such states systemic borderlands—states that are the...
Governor Corzine's statement today as he signed the NJ death penalty ban: Thank you all for being here. Today, December 17th 2007, is a momentous day - a day of progress - for the State of New Jersey and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical...
This story from The Guardian is a wonderful development: A California free speech group whose board of directors includes Google and Yahoo said on Monday it had asked U.S. trade officials to challenge China's Internet restrictions as a violation of global trade rules. The issue threatens to further strain U.S.-China trade relations if the U.S. Trade Representative's office decides to take...
I don't know very much about French legal education, but I'm still surprised by this article, which claims that because France lacks a first-rate law school, the most prestigious French law firms are now requiring their new hires to have an American or British law degree:It isn't easy for corporate law firms to find qualified law-school graduates in the land...
For those looking for a more detailed breakdown of the Bali talks on Climate Change, check out this day-by-day record of the events. It's part of the International Institute for Sustainable Development's reporting service. IISD monitors and reports on developments in international environmental law, including virtually all the MEAs (multilateral environmental agreements). Indeed,...
With all this talk of Kosovo (and Transnistria), I would be remiss not to note the following. According to CNN:Tensions were rising in Bolivia on Saturday as members of the country's four highest natural gas-producing regions declared autonomy from the central government. Thousands waved the Santa Cruz region's green-and-white flags in the streets as council members of the Santa Cruz, Tarija,...
If you are looking for evidence that a) the world is paying attention to death penalty practices in the United States, and b) states in this country are active participants in the international human rights system, this week's vote by the New Jersey state legislature to abolish the death penalty is a great example. Today's NY Times editorial framed...
It is difficult to imagine what the Nuremberg Trial would have been like without Justice Robert Jackson. I still get chills when I read the final paragraph of his summation, which ranks as one of the great closing arguments in legal history:[T]hese defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring...
I read with interest the Mitchell Report on the illegal use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances. The section that particularly grabbed my attention was the governing law (pp. 18-24). Of central importance to the report is how one defines the "illegal" use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances. Here are a few key sections...
Those of you who follow our linkroll may already have noted that the American Society of International Law (ASIL) has launched a great new website for the U.S. Presidential Campaign. Dubbed “International Law 2008” ASIL’s project has three components: (1) a collection of the candidates' policy statements and speeches on topics related to international law; (2) candidate responses to...
That essentially was the question raised in the recent Ninth Circuit case of Humanitarian Law Project v. Mukasey. The answer to the question is no. The Plaintiffs were hoping to train members of one terrorist group, PKK, by helping them (1) to use humanitarian and international law to peacefully resolve disputes; (2) to engage in political advocacy on...
I have posted a substantially revised and expanded version of my essay "What Happens to the Acquitted?" on SSRN. Here again is the abstract of the essay, which is forthcoming in the Leiden Journal of International Law:According to the ICTR, Emmanuel Bagambiki is an innocent man. The Trial Chamber and the Appeals chamber have each unanimously acquitted the former...
