The D.C. Circuit last week rendered an important ruling in an ATS case regarding appellate jurisdiction over political questions. In Doe v. Exxon, the Court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal. The case sounds similar to the Unocal-Burma case with allegations that Exxon retained government soldiers as guards for their natural gas facility and these security...
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum begins tomorrow in Davos, the small chalet town that has now become synonomous with power in the era of globalization, a sort of latter-day collective Versailles. It does seem that the lead-up to this year's meeting is getting less attention than in recent years (though we now have daily blogging from...
Here's what I see up on the web by way of spring IL colloquiua. Jeff Dunoff and I are convening one here at Temple, with a terrific line-up including Paul Schiff Berman, Bill Burke-White, David Zaring, Oona Hathaway, David Luban, Joost Pauwelyn, David Luban, and Catherine Powell. Duke (Curt Bradley, Ralf Michaels, Joost Pauwelyn) Georgetown (Carlos Vazquez) University of Georgia (Dan Bodansky...
[Opinio Juris welcomes Deborah Pearlstein as a guest respondent. She will spend the coming year as an Associate Research Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. For the past three years, she has directed the Law and Security Program at Human Rights First.] With thanks to Opinio Juris for inviting me to engage...
During my recent blog-vacation, I didn't notice that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari last week in a neat little case involving the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations v. the City of New York. The dispute is whether New York City's suit to to recover unpaid property taxes imposed on property owned by the Government of...
[NOTE to Opinio Juris Readers: Although we will continue to host John Bellinger as a guest blogger today, I thought I'd resume normal programming and start posting on other topics. But please stick around for future posts by John as well.] The International Court of Justice will issue its decision today (around 10 a.m. Hague time, GMT +1, which is about...
In his latest post, John Bellinger claims that “[c]ritics will now accept virtually any speculation and rumor and circulate them as fact,” even though “[a]llegations about U.S. military or intelligence activities have become so hyperbolic as to be absurd.” He may well be right on the first count, but he has completely failed to prove the second. With...
As I look to wrap up what has been an energetic and stimulating dialogue on a host of international legal issues, I would like to post some responses now, and will conclude next week. Let me reiterate how much we appreciate the comments, especially from those who have provided detailed legal and historical analysis. For too long, the discourse...
The excellent posts by Professors Ku, Golove and Sloss address a central constitutional issue in the law-of-war field: which branch of the U.S. government has the authority to decide what the laws of war require. Below are a few thoughts based on my assessment of the text’s original meaning (for what that may be worth). 1. Ultimate authority on...
Like others, I have followed this week’s entries with fascination. From outside the United States, it is a pleasure to see such a spirited debate conducted in such a fine manner. It is a tribute to John Bellinger that the thoughtful tone that he set at the start has been continued. I wish to take up two points. ...
Just to keep our readers in the loop, we are still expecting John Bellinger to post later tonight or early tomorrow morning a response to some of the comments on his postings from throughout the week. I also understand that John may be kind enough to do even more follow-up responsive blogging next week. So stay tuned. ...
[Opinio Juris welcomes Professor David Golove of New York University School of Law as a guest respondent. Professor Golove's teaching and scholarship is focused on the foreign relations law of the United States and on constituional law.] In his recent post, Julian asks whether the President has domestic constitutional authority to adopt a "new" interpretation of the laws of war. ...
