In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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25 Jun

The Supreme Court has struck down state laws mandating juvenile offenders to be sentenced to life without parole with its decision in Miller v. Alabama. The decision is part of a logical progression from decisions constitutionally barring the death penalty for juvenile offenders (Roper v. Simmons) and life sentences for juveniles for crimes not involving murder (Graham v. Florida). What's interesting...

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25 Jun

As predicted here, the Supreme Court delivered a split decision today in the Arizona immigration case.  But to the extent that it's a partial victory for supporters of SB 1070, it's only a nominal one.  Justice Kennedy's majority opinion broadly validates federal power over immigration, leaving a very confined space for state activity. Kennedy's opinion situates immigration law as part of...

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25 Jun

Long-time readers may recall that I have a standing offer to employ my services as a technical consultant for any Hollywood producer or New York Times best-selling novelist looking for accuracy in popular portrayals of international law.  And we here at Opinio Juris regularly like to make hay of how popular culture interprets international law and international relations.   For our...

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25 Jun

Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, is declared the winner in the Egyptian Presidential Election. Turkey has invoked article 4 of the NATO Charter to arrange consultations on its response after Syria shot down a Turkish fighter plane. Turkish warplanes have been busy this weekend, carrying out nine air strikes on PKK targets in Northern Iraq. Additionally, 33 members of the...

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25 Jun

I obviously disagreed with the ICC's decision to issue the non-apology apology, but I sincerely hoped that it would at least lead to Taylor's release.  Unfortunately, Libya has given no indication that, having suitably humiliated both the Court and Bob Carr, it has any intention of releasing her: Carr said Friday’s talks in the Hague between the ICC and Libyan authorities...

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24 Jun

I have often chided David Bernstein for his misrepresentation of the work done by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, so it is only fair to call out progressives when they, too, distort that work.  Political Animal, which is associated with the Washington Monthly, is one of my favorite progressive blogs.  But a recent post by Kathleen Geier that claims...

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23 Jun

This week on Opinio Juris, we continued last week’s discussion on the US debate on ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea with a follow-up post by Craig Allen, addressing the Convention’s extended continental shelf revenue sharing and its compulsory dispute settlement. John Noyes’ response to last week’s post by Steven Groves discussed why ratification would...

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23 Jun

As Mark Kersten has already ably discussed at Justice in Conflict, the ICC released a statement yesterday regarding Melinda Taylor's detention.  Ironically, although I think everything about the statement is profoundly devastating to the Court's credibility, I am actually slightly less bothered than Mark by the "regret" section of the statement: The ICC deeply regrets any events that may have given...

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22 Jun

Since the late 1990s, thirty-nine nations have signed the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. So far so good. But unfortunately, the treaty essentially is toothless, requiring nations to implement national laws that prohibit foreign bribery, but doing little more. Only a handful of countries are effectively enforcing their anti-bribery laws. Which ones? Well, the answer seems to...

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22 Jun

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions has held that the US drone strikes flout internationally recognized human rights standards and may even be war crimes. The Washington Post has an opinion piece on the impact of drone attacks on diplomacy. The Atlantic has a follow up piece. The US is using Facebook to drive a wedge between...

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21 Jun

[John E. Noyes is the Roger J. Traynor Professor of Law at California Western School of Law.] I do not share Professor Rabkin’s pessimistic view of the prospect of international arbitration of law of the sea disputes under the Law of the Sea Convention.  LOS Convention tribunals and the law of the sea experts who serve as judges and arbitrators have helped...

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21 Jun

[Editors Note: We inadvertently posted the incomplete version of this post by Jeremy Rabkin this morning. This post has his response to Prof. Noyes earlier post today. Sorry for the confusion.] [Jeremy Rabkin is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law.] Craig Allen has performed a valuable service by reporting the range of sea-related treaties where we have already committed to...

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