I have just posted a new essay on SSRN, entitled "The Uncertain Legal Status of the Aggression Understandings." The essay will be published by the Journal of International Criminal Justice as part of a symposium on the ICC's new crime of aggression. Here is the abstract: Annex III of Resolution RC/Res.6, adopted by consensus at Kampala on 12 June 2010, contains...
It's likely old news to most OJ readers, but we should still note in passing that the DC Circuit, in a divided panel, handed down an important ATS case, John Doe VIII v Exxon Mobil Corp. It is noteworthy, among other things, for straight-out rejecting the Second Circuit's Kiobel ruling, which held that there is no such thing as corporate...
The following is a guest-post by Mark Kersten. Mark is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the London School of Economics and author of the (excellent) blog Justice in Conflict. His research examines the nexus of conflict resolution and the pursuit of international criminal justice. Trying to Get to the Bottom of the “Peace versus Justice” Debate...
A few months back, Opinio Juris was pleased to host an inaugural joint symposium with the Harvard International Law Journal. Next week, we're very pleased to be able to regularize this partnership with a second symposium (I'm particularly pleased with this development for reasons that should become apparent below). The symposium will run from Tuesday, July 12, to Friday, July 15, and...
Thanks to Roger Alford and Opinio Juris for hosting this discussion. And renewed thanks to the distinguished respondents for their insightful commentary. Foreign official immunity issues arise in a variety of cases, especially in response to plaintiffs making commercial or human rights claims. As Larry Helfer and David Stewart emphasize (and as I discuss in the article), in the human rights...
Professor Ingrid Wuerth’s article on foreign official immunity is thorough, thoughtful and provocative, and it’s a privilege to make my first OJ appearance commenting on it. There is much to agree with in her analysis, and at the same time some questions to raise. Just over a year has now passed since the Supreme Court decided, in Samantar v. Yousuf, that...
Thanks to Opinio Juris for inviting me to comment on Foreign Official Immunity Determinations in U.S. Courts: The Case Against the State Department, Professor Ingrid Wuerth’s timely and insightful article. The springboard for the article is Samantar v. Yousuf, the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision which held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not apply to individual government...
I am very pleased to be able to comment on Ingrid Wuerth’s recent article, Foreign Official Immunity Determinations in U.S. Courts: The Case Against the State Department. As readers of this blog are aware, the Supreme Court held in Samantar v. Yousuf that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) generally does not apply to suits against individual foreign officials, and...
We now know that there is broad agreement that if Texas Governor Perry goes forward with today's scheduled execution of Humberto Leal, he will be doing so in violation of law. Who has said so? Well, the U.S. government, the U.S. Supreme Court, at least three concurring judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, a significant number of members...
The article, Foreign Officials Immunity Determinations in U.S. Courts: The Case Against the State Department, considers the executive branch’s power to make foreign official immunity determinations that are binding in U.S. courts. As many readers know, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act governs the immunity of foreign states in U.S. courts. This statute does not apply to the immunity of individual foreign...
Over the course of the next few days we are pleased to have Ingrid Wuerth discuss her article on Foreign Officials Immunity Determinations in U.S. Courts: The Case Against the State Department. Her article was recently published in the Virginia Journal of International Law. She argues that the text and structure of the Constitution, functional and historical...
Cross posted at Balkinization Big news in the past day is the Obama administration’s announcement that a Somali national captured by the U.S. military somewhere in the Gulf has been transferred to New York for federal prosecution on terrorism-related charges. According to the Justice Department (DOJ), the man, Warsame, was “questioned for intelligence purposes for more than two months” after his...
