In association with the International Commission of Jurists

National Security Law

19 Apr

In interests of being "fair and balanced," I thought I'd post Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen's rebuttal to Jane Mayer's "devastating" New Yorker review of his book on Bush-era interrogation policies. At this point, neither side is really arguing the law much, but both seem focused on policy. Thiessen's rebuttal looks pretty strong (as was Mayer's review).  (see below for excerpts) Here's Mayer: His...

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15 Apr

Harold Koh's ASIL speech drew lots of attention for his defense of the legality of U.S. use of aerial drones.  But Koh also spent much of the speech explaining and defending the U.S. decision to reorient its relationship toward the International Criminal Court.   He noted U.S. attendance (as an observer) at the ICC Assembly of States Parties in November, and U.S....

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15 Apr

Eric Posner has an editorial today in the Wall Street Journal today that uses the recent indictment of Judge Garzon in Spain as an opportunity to dust off the traditional far-right attack on the concept of universal jurisdiction and the existence of the ICC.  It's a remarkably misleading editorial, one that deserves a thorough response. Mr. Garzon wanted to prosecute Pinochet...

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14 Apr

A simple question for those who believe "self-defense" and/or the AUMF authorizes the CIA to kill Americans abroad outside of armed conflict.  If Obama authorizes it, can the CIA put a bullet in the back of the skull of an American citizen believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda while he is watching a movie in Topeka, Kansas? If not, why not?...

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13 Apr

Following up on Ken's post about the Washington Post editorial endorsing Harold Koh's legal defense of targeted killings, it is worth analyzing the passage Ken quoted one more time, but this time from a domestic U.S. constitutional perspective: Mr. Koh’s reaffirmation of the right to self-defense — even outside the confines of an existing armed conflict — is particularly important. The Authorization...

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09 Apr

A federal district court in Texas has held that the Alien Tort Statute ("ATS") requires allegations of intent to violate international law. The mere knowledge that such violation was occurring, or would occur, is insufficient to support a claim under the ATS. The complaint in Abecassis v. Wyatt alleges that various corporations and individuals purchased oil from Iraq and made...

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08 Apr

Putting aside events in Kyrgyzstan (which certainly bear close watching), the day's big news for international lawyers was President Obama and Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev signing two related international agreements on the reduction of nuclear armaments. The State Department has posted the originals of this new START treaty here (see here for the longer, more detailed Protocol to that...

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07 Apr

As the Washington Post notes, the Obama administration has authorized the CIA to assassinate Aulaqi wherever he is found.  It is very unlikely that CIA agents qualify as lawful combatants -- they don't distinguish themselves from the civilian population, they don't carry their arms openly, etc.  So, let's assume that CIA agents manage to kill Aulaqi in Afghanistan.  I assume...

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06 Apr

I figure it's never too late to catch up on some of last week's April 1 reporting.  The Harvard Law Record got a great "scoop" with this story: Speaking to a lunch seminar held by the National Security Law Association, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was shocked to discover that the term “self-executing”...

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