The following post was written by my friend Mark Osiel (Iowa). He hopes that readers will provide him feedback on the post, so don't be shy! Also make sure to check out Mark's new book, "The End of Reciprocity: Terror, Torture, and the Law of War." It's superb. A curious feature of all the major international crimes is that, unlike domestic...
[caption id="attachment_9642" align="alignright" width="137" caption=""][/caption] So what resulted from the past few days of G-20 meetings of finance ministers? And, particularly given the long-term conversation here at OJ about transnational networks and global governance, do the meetings offer any data point in that discussion? The principal policy debates at the G-20 meetings were over bonus/compensation issues for bankers (pressed hard by the...
Rachel Irwin of IWPR has published a typically excellent article on the role of victims in Lubanga. (The article quotes me liberally, though, so you shouldn't take my word for that.) A taste: A total of 99 victims represented by seven lawyers are participating in the Lubanga trial at the International Criminal Court, ICC. The lawyers are present in the courtroom...
It's not unusual, I gather (never having worked in government), for the CIA to ask DOJ prosecutors to investigate leaks involving the agency. However, in the circumstances surrounding the current AG Holder decision to appoint a prosecutor to investigate CIA activities, it's perhaps worth noting that the CIA has asked for an investigation into what it apparently regards as a...
Over at Volokh, Michael Scharf and Jonathan Adler each weigh in. Plus, see the comments to the various posts here at OJ, as well as Peggy's earlier post on this subject at Prawfslawsblog. And Julian's earlier Prawfslawblog post, too. (Most of the discussion, though not all, is more narrowly focused on the question of 1L international law courses.)...
As Ken noted, Eric Posner has responded to my question on whether 1Ls should take international law with an emphatic "No!" In fact (and perhaps not surprisingly given his scholarly positions) Eric's not very keen on law students taking international law courses at all; he advises them to take statistics instead. Eric does concede that international law belongs in the...
I blogged last week about new JD/JD and JD/LLM programs that Melbourne has established with NYU Law School. I now want to mention another exciting new joint degree program, this time with Oxford University's Faculty of Law. Melbourne Law School students who enroll in the program will be able to earn both a JD from Melbourne and a BCL --...
The Perils of Global Legalism (University of Chicago 2009) is just out, I see, and my copy just arrived via the magic of Amazon one-click. I read an early ms. draft, but am looking forward to reading the final version. This is yet another book from Eric that promises to provoke lots of people in the international law community, but...
Cross-posted at Balkinization I was all set to zone out this vacation when we happened to stroll past an SUV featuring one bumper sticker (among others) announcing: “Waterboarding: Keep it safe, legal and rare.” Nothing like a little vacation motivation to make me peruse (at an admittedly slower pace) the wave of old OLC memos that came along with the...
David Bernstein and I agree about one thing: Pat Buchanan is a very stupid man. But if Hitler was out to conquer the world — Britain, Africa, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, South America, India, Asia, Australia — why did he spend three years building that hugely expensive Siegfried Line to protect Germany from France? Why did he start...
The blog Making Sense of Darfur has been hosting a symposium on Adam M. Smith's book After Genocide: Bringing the Devil to Justice, in which the author argues -- oversimplifying only slightly -- that international criminal trials are always inferior to domestic trials and non-punitive accountability mechanisms. I have neither the time nor the inclination to address the book's claims...
Dear Mr. Prime Minister: I noted with interest your recent statement that you believe an international criminal court should be created to prosecute individuals whom you believe have committed crimes against Iraqis. As reported by Xinhua: The Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday demanded again for the United Nations to form a criminal court to prosecute those involved in the killing...
