In many ways, it is more important to note the continuity between Obama and Bush administration policies than to dwell on their differences. Given the political antecedents of the two administrations, the areas where they have adopted the same policy is a sure-fire sign that there is broad consensus in the U.S. on a policy. I think we are getting...
Cross-posted on Balkinization and Scotusblog Since Justice Stevens announced his intention to retire, discussions about what his departure will mean for the Court have regularly noted his military service in World War II. The justice enlisted the day before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor (and has joked about how the enemy responded to the news immediately). There is little...
This sounds impressive, but somehow it feels like the ICC Prosecutor is going in circles on Sudan. THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court prosecutor wants judges to report Sudan to the U.N. Security Council for refusing to hand over a government minister and a militia leader accused of atrocities in Darfur. Luis Moreno Ocampo said in a written request to...
Did the ICJ ruling on Uruguay and Argentina help to resolve the dispute? Sort of. There are some pesky protestors, though, who are not exactly convinced by the ruling. Both sides said Tuesday's decision by the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands gave them what they need to resolve their differences, with Argentina taking heart from a part of the...
Belgium and France are both considering laws to ban the wearing of full-face veils in public. According to Amnesty International, such bans would violate international human rights law. "A general ban on the wearing of full face veils would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who choose to express their identity or beliefs in this...
Although the U.S. is already prosecuting a pirate captured last year in New York, I hadn't realized the U.S. was going to be trying other pirates in federal court as well. But since Kenya has stopped accepting pirates for prosecution in their courts, I guess it makes sense that the U.S. and other countries will have to step up to...
This seems like a bad idea for a number of reasons that are too obvious to go into here. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine human rights groups are turning the tables on Spain, hoping to open a judicial probe of murders and disappearances committed during the Spanish Civil War and the early years of Gen. Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Lawyers representing Argentine relatives...
The ABA Journal has an interesting article on the Americanization of international arbitration. There's nothing particularly new to our readers in this article. It's a theme that my friend and colleague Tom Stipanowich has written about extensively. I've written a bit about the subject as well. But the fact that the story is being told in...
I haven't really looked at it, but here is the ICJ's judgment in the Argentina-Uruguay Pulp Mill Dispute. Although the Court found that Uruguay violated certain procedural obligations, it essentially ruled in favor of Uruguay on all substantive obligations (or it simply ruled that certain issues, like pollution effects, were outside its jurisdiction). On the substantive obligations, there were three...
Eli Lake has a fantastic essay at Reason.com on the myriad ways in which Obama has replicated the worst excesses of the Bush administration with regard to national security. He rightly identifies the source of the problem -- the AUMF, which was passed in a fit of hysteria three days after 9/11 and has no natural expiration date. Here is...
Current and former federal prisoners allege that the low wages they were paid for work performed in prison violated their rights under the Fifth Amendment and various sources of international law.... Plaintiffs earned between $19.00 and $145.00 per month at rates as low as nineteen cents per hour. Plaintiffs contend that by paying them such low wages, Defendants ... violated Plaintiffs’ rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution; articles 7 through 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”); a U.N. document entitled “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners;” and the law of nations.
In this fascinating profile of Jeffrey Lena, the lead (and perhaps only) lawyer for the Vatican in defending sex-abuse related lawsuits in the U.S., one also gets an update on the status of the various U.S. litigations against the Vatican. The current Supreme Court petition for consideration is Holy See v. John Doe. The Court hasn't yet decided whether to...
