The New Yorker has an interesting article on how the Internet is changing the way we think about buying and selling information. The article argues that: We have clearly reached a new point in the history of text production. On many fronts, traditional periodicals and books are making way for blogs and other electronic formats. But magazines and books still...
According to Reuters, prosecutors in Paris have dismissed a claim against Donald Rumsfeld for the abuses at Abu Ghraib:The Paris prosecutors' office has dismissed a suit against Donald Rumsfeld accusing the former U.S. defense secretary of torture, human rights groups who brought the case said on Friday. The plaintiffs, who included the French-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) and...
Ofer Eldar of Weil, Gotshal has posted a new essay to SSRN, entitled Vote Trading in International Institutions, forthcoming the the European Journal of Interntional Law. It sounds interesting; here is the abstract:There is evidence that countries trade votes among each other in international institutions on a wide range of issues,including the use of force, trade issues and elections of...
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to consider the constitutionality of a handgun ban in the District of Columbia under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. This will be a blockbuster case that will keep Eugene Volokh even busier for the next few months. As with the interpretations of other constitutional provisions, the Second Amendment could be placed with...
Mary Dudziak has an interesting post today at Legal History Blog that discusses why Brian Leiter's citation rankings underestimate the scholarly impact of legal historians. One of the primary reasons, she explains, is that the study is confined to Westlaw's JLR database:What does this miss? Leading scholars will have an impact that ranges beyond their fields and beyond their...
In June, I blogged about evidence presented at a New South Wales Coroner's Court indicating that, contrary to the longstanding position of the Indonesian and Australian governments, Indonesian troops murdered five journalists in Balibo on October 16, 1975, the first full day of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. Last week, the deputy coroner in New South Wales officially concluded that the...
The Harvard Law Review Supreme Court Review is just out and there is a good summary of Massachusetts v. EPA available here. They argue that the case signals further movement away from Chevron deference and the presidential control model. Massachusetts v. EPA is certainly significant because the Court entered the public debate on global warming and because the...
The "Fair" in "Fair and Balanced": Wouldn't it be nice if Fox News at least pretended to live up to its motto? UPDATE: In the comments, "Humble Law Student" claims that my post is a "cheap shot at sliming the network [and] is both incorrect and dishonest," ostensibly because the screenshot comes from The Big Story, an opinion show instead of a...
Brian Leiter has just published his ranking of the Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty, 2000-2007. There are many interesting reflections one could draw from this list, but one that I find particularly important is what I will call the Monopoly Board of Citation Rankings. If you're in the "wrong" neighborhood, a citation value of 250 is phenomenal....
The hybrid war crimes court in Cambodia, which is known as the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia" (or ECCC) has arrested one of its biggest defendants yet: Former head of state Khieu Samphan during the Khmer Rouge era. (See Kevin's list of likely defendants here). And he is getting a true believer as his defense lawyer. ...
The wedding of Ghollam Nikbin was cause for joyous celebration. Nikbin was nervous about the religious police in Iran and therefore suggested that they marry in Cyprus. But his future wife's family insisted that the ceremony take place in Iran. Consistent with Islamic rules, there were two separate sites for the men and women at the wedding....
According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 1,000 individuals who have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide currently live in the United States free from the threat of prosecution. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) wants that to change:America has become a haven for the world's war criminals because it lacks the laws needed to prosecute them,...
