Nick Kristof asks the right questions about the lack of outrage against Robert Mugabe among the leaders of African states and discusses what may be the best solution to the horrors that have gripped Zimbabwe over these past months: Africa’s rulers often complain, with justice, that the West’s perceptions of the continent are disproportionately shaped by buffoons and tyrants rather than...
As this WaPo article points out, the U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan is likely to be the next source of litigation from detainees seeking to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. Of course, Boumediene doesn't make it clear that the writ extends to Guantanamo, but it does not rule out extending the Writ there either. That is part of...
This sounds complicated but important: The United States and the European Union are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information — like credit card transactions, travel histories and Internet browsing habits — about people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the problems in reaching an agreement have been on the...
Well, two experts on the Darfur conflict in Sudan think so. More evidence for my argument with Kevin (and Angelina Jolie) about the downside of the ICC actions in Sudan. Is the International Criminal Court losing its way in Darfur? We fear it is. Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's approach is fraught with risk -- for the victims of the atrocities...
The government of Canada, one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the ICC, is apparently quietly lobbying for a withdrawal of ICC arrest warrants against the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army leaders. According to a diplomatic note obtained by the Star, Canada “has already indicated openness, in principle” to supporting a future request to the UN Security Council to defer charges...
Here's my review in the New York Obsever of Benjamin Wittes' new book, Law and the Long War: The Future of Justice in the Age of Terror. The book is a must read for foreign relations law specialists, in many ways a companion volume to Jack Goldsmith's The Terror Presidency. Where Jack gives us the inside acount, Ben's...
The BBC reports that the New Zealand government and seven Maori tribes have entered into an historic agreement concerning Maori ownership of a number of forests in the North Island, where I live:The NZ$420m ($319m) agreement transfers ownership of nine forests - covering 435,000 acres (176,000 hectares) of land - in the central North Island. Hundreds of Maori, some in traditional...
No surprise, the Supreme Court in the Second Amendment case of D.C. v. Heller refrains from any discussion of contemporary foreign or international laws or practices. The Court, per Justice Scalia, does discuss historical comparativism at some length (pp. 19-22), and Justice Stevens in dissent challenges this historical reading (pp. 27-31). But the really interesting part of Heller regarding comparativism...
WorldPublicOpinion.org has released an interesting survey of world attitudes toward torture. Here is the summary of their findings:A WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 19 nations finds that in 14 of them most people favor an unequivocal rule against torture, even in the case of terrorists who have information that could save innocent lives. Four nations lean toward favoring an exception in...
Susan Franck forwards the following call for papers for what looks to be an interesting and well-timed conference:The ASIL's International Economic Law Interest Group will hold its biennial conference in Washington this year just after the U.S. Presidential election, on the timely theme of "The Politics of International Economic Law: The Next Four Years." The conference committee has just...
As Julian notes the Court in Kennedy v. Louisiana ruled that the death penalty for child rape violated the Eighth Amendment. It did so without any reference to international or comparative law or experiences. The focus of the opinion was on a national consensus and the Court's own independent judgment of what the Eighth Amendment requires. Having...
I don't want to step on Roger's turf here, but I can't resist a brief note on today's U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for rapists who victimize children under 13. As most of our readers know, the test for determining a violation of the Eighth Amendment turns on "evolving standards of...
