I have now had the opportunity to read both Judge van den Wyngaert's request to be excused from the Kenyatta case and the Presidency's decision to grant that request. There is no question that workload did indeed play a role in the Judge's decision to withdraw. But it also seems clear that there was at least one other reason, as...
I cannot find the relevant document on the ICC website, but Kenya's CapitalFM is reporting that Judge Christine van den Wyngaert, sitting in the Trial Chamber, has withdrawn from the case against Uhuru Kenyatta because of concerns about the prosecution's behavior: In her opinion the prosecution failed to disclose to the Pre-Trial Chamber on the credibility of witness four and disclosing new...
This week 170 garment workers in Bangladesh died after the Rana Plaza building collapsed. A few months ago 112 garment workers in Bangladesh died after the Tazreen Fashions garment factory was destroyed by fire. Both tragedies were the result of inadequate fire and safety standards. These tragedies could not have come at a worst time for major...
[Milan Markovic is an Associate Professor of Law at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.] When the Supreme Court originally granted certiorari in Kiobel, many feared that it would bar ATS suits against corporations entirely. The Supreme Court’s actual decision bars ATS claims that do not “touch and concern” United States territory. I tend to agree with Marty Lederman that there...
[Austen Parrish is the Interim Dean and a Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.] With Kiobel, the general mood among those in the human rights community is pessimistic. Because it curtails use of the Alien Tort Statute, viewing the decision as a loss is tempting. From this perspective, Kiobel is another indication that the Court continues to reinvent itself with a particular...
[William S. Dodge is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. From August 2011 to July 2012, he served as Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked on the amicus briefs filed by the United States in Kiobel v....
[Roger L. Phillips is an international criminal law practitioner. He also maintains Communis Hostis Omnium, a blog about maritime piracy. This post is cross-posted there.] The majority opinion in Kiobel precludes Alien Tort Statute claims for foreign conduct against foreign victims, leaving a small door for potential future claims that involve extraterritorial conduct so long as they touch and concern US territorial...
This time it is about general personal jurisdiction of a foreign parent corporation based on alleged human rights violations of one subsidiary in a foreign country and unrelated activities of another subsidiary within the forum. The question presented in Daimler Chrysler AG v. Bauman is as follows: Daimler AG is a German public stock company that does not manufacture or sell...
"[E]ven where the claims touch and concern the territory of the United States, they must do so with sufficient force to displace the presumption against extraterritorial application. Corporations are often present in many countries, and it would reach too far to say that mere corporate presence suffices." That is the operative language in Kiobel. Which raises the question, if mere...
Two years ago, I wrote a long post analyzing the most serious charge in Bradley Manning's court martial -- aiding the enemy, a violation of Art. 104 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and 10 USC 904. I claimed in the post that someone like Bill Keller, the Executive Editor of the New York Times during the WikiLeaks era,...
In the wake of Obama's memorable statement, a number of bloggers have questioned whether the Boston bombings deserve to be labeled "terrorism." Most of those bloggers -- such as the excellent Ali Abuminah here -- emphasize that many US definitions of terrorism require the violent act in question to be politically or ideologically motivated, which is still an open question with regard...
The Pre-Trial Chamber has granted the OPCD's request to withdraw from the case and has appointed the OPCD's chosen replacement, John RWD Jones QC, to represent Saif until such time as he is either able to choose his own lawyer or the ICC finally rules on Libya's admissibility challenge. Jones is a fantastic choice -- he successfully represented both Oric...
