In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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15 Apr

[This post was jointly authored by Duncan Hollis and Joshua Newcomer]  We would like to start by expressing our thanks to the editors of the Virginia Journal of International Law, the (other) hosts of Opinio Juris, and especially Professors Edward Swaine and Michael Ramsey for commenting on our article. "Political" Commitments and the Constitution (available on SSRN here) explores the constitutional validity...

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14 Apr

In the comments section of an earlier post, GW lawprof Edward Swaine raises a really good point in defense of Koh's CEDAW testimony.  Since I highlighted Whelan's very tough post, it is worth highlighting Swaine's very good point in defense (I am paraphrasing, but this is the gist):  In the context of a committee hearing where other folks, including Senator Boxer,...

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14 Apr

My boss, Dean Ken Starr, has just published this letter expressing warm and hearty support for Harold Koh's nomination to be the State Department Legal Advisor. Here is an excerpt: Harold's background is, of course, the very essence of the American dream. That great story needs no repetition. What I can speak to more personally is Harold Koh...

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14 Apr

“That the Obama DOJ has repeatedly embraced the very legal theories responsible for much of the intense progressive rage towards the Bush/Cheney regime is now beyond dispute.” So writes Glenn Greenwald on his Salon blog this week entitled “An emerging progressive consensus on Obama's executive power and secrecy abuses.” I take it Glenn’s blog is much read by the “legal left”...

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14 Apr

In his new book Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror, Mahmood Mamdani claims that, "in its present form, the call for justice is really a slogan that masks a big power agenda to recolonize Africa."  There is more than a grain of truth to that; I think my friend Tony Anghie's seminal work Imperialism, Sovereignty, and...

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14 Apr

This according to the ever-reliable Scott Horton: Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast. Their decision is expected to be announced...

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14 Apr

Ed Whelan's latest post on Koh's nomination to be Legal Advisor lands a sharp and potentially serious blow. Reviewing Koh's writings and his testimony to the Senate in favor of Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Whelan argues that Koh's testimony deliberately omitted discussion of important interpretations of CEDAW by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women: The...

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13 Apr

There has been tons of commentary on the pirate thing now, so there is little more to add.  Except that there is a brewing debate about where to try the remaining captured Somali pirate.  In theory, the pirate could be tried before a military commission, if Obama wished, but I somehow doubt that his going to happen (although if he...

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13 Apr

My professor in the Literature Program at Duke University, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, has passed away.  Eve was one of the pioneering figures in queer theory.  From Duke University Press's announcement: Duke University Press mourns the loss of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.      We have been proud to publish six of Sedgwick’s books. The first, Tendencies (1992) is...

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13 Apr

My thanks to Peter for his invaluable comments and to Opinio Juris and the Yale Journal of International Law for making this exchange possible. I am particularly grateful for Peter’s extraordinarily insightful critiques, which I think go a long way toward helping me develop the model that I propose in Protecting Rights Online. Peter’s first critique identifies one of the primary...

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13 Apr

Let me begin by thanking Opinio Juris and the Yale International Law Journal for hosting this online symposium. In “Protecting Rights Online,” Professor Molly Beutz Land has written a highly interesting article that seeks to bridge the disciplinary and doctrinal divide between the human rights and access to knowledge (A2K) movements. The article is well-written, accessible and provocative. It has...

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