In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

07 Nov

I recently finished teaching Hartford Fire again. And it got me pondering Justice Scalia’s curious attitudes towards international and foreign law. Scalia’s hostility to the use of foreign legal norms in interpreting the U.S. Constitution is well-established. As far back as Thompson v. Oklahoma in 1988 we see Scalia critique "The plurality's reliance upon Amnesty International's account of...

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06 Nov

Many people don’t realize how close the modern law of human rights came to becoming a law of human rights and human duties. The first article of the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, prepared by former McGill law professor John Humphrey, first director of the UN Human Rights Division, stated: “Everyone owes a duty to...

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06 Nov

The Pew Research Center has just published a wonderful survey on rising contentment in the developing world. According to the survey those surveyed in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are more satisfied with the state of the nation than those surveyed in Europe and the United States. "Throughout much of the world, rising incomes are improving national conditions...

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06 Nov

Two weeks ago I had the good fortune to moderate a panel at the International Law Weekend that included Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit. I thought his comments deserved wider dissemination. The focus of the panel was a review of the influence and relevance of the legal academy. It included great speakers such as Martin Flaherty of...

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06 Nov

I will be giving a public lecture next Tuesday, November 13th, at the London School of Economics. The lecture, which is sponsored by LSE's International Humanitarian Law Project and the Law Society Charity, will ask whether the Iraqi High Tribunal should serve as a model for what scholars have called "internationalized domestic tribunals": domestic courts that directly apply international...

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06 Nov

It's bad enough that the Mafia's criminal activity accounts for 7% of Italy's gross domestic product. Even worse is that at least one major Mafia clan has discovered a new product to traffic — nuclear material:Authorities in Italy are investigating a mafia clan accused of trafficking nuclear waste and trying to make plutonium. The 'Ndrangheta mafia, which gained notoriety in...

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06 Nov

It's probably not necessary for most readers of the blog, but my advice would be to save your $17.82. John Bolton's Surrender Is Not an Option is predictably devoid of perspective and makes for dull reading. Bolton has a massive chip on his shoulder (all the way back to his youth as a scholarship kid in high school...

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05 Nov

In “The Concept of Law,” HLA Hart famously gave a back-handed defense of international law as law, but pretty primitive law in comparison to municipal law. He suggested, however, that international law may be in a “stage of transition” towards acceptance of various elements that would “bring it nearer in structure to a municipal system.” That was nearly...

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05 Nov

Opinio Juris is pleased to welcome Professor John Knox as a guest blogger for the next two weeks. Professor Knox teaches at Wake Forest Law School and writes in the area of international environmental law and international human rights. His SSRN page is here, which includes his recent AJIL article critiquing attempts to enforce human rights obligations against...

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05 Nov

But there are few fireworks in this Guardian-sponsored exchange. Bellinger comes off as a bit defensive and is trying to introduce a new argument: Let's move on. Here is the main thrust of the exchange: Philippe Sands: Are there any circumstances in which you could imagine the use of water boarding to be consistent with international law? John Bellinger: Again, we've...

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05 Nov

I don't think so but some people do. Here's a bill that would fix the well-known operative flaws of the WPR. The measure corrects the WPR's failure to include attacks on US armed forces and citizens outside the United States among those situations in which the President can unilaterally initiate hostilities (compare the bill's section 3 to the...

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03 Nov

I know next to nothing about UNCLOS, but I will still amused by one the reasons the Wall Street Journal invokes today against ratifying it — customary international law:The best arguments for the treaty come from the U.S. Navy, which likes how it creates a legal framework for navigational rights. The oil and gas industry approves of provisions that create...

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