If you are looking for evidence that a) the world is paying attention to death penalty practices in the United States, and b) states in this country are active participants in the international human rights system, this week's vote by the New Jersey state legislature to abolish the death penalty is a great example. Today's NY Times editorial framed...
It is difficult to imagine what the Nuremberg Trial would have been like without Justice Robert Jackson. I still get chills when I read the final paragraph of his summation, which ranks as one of the great closing arguments in legal history:[T]hese defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring...
I read with interest the Mitchell Report on the illegal use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances. The section that particularly grabbed my attention was the governing law (pp. 18-24). Of central importance to the report is how one defines the "illegal" use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances. Here are a few key sections...
Those of you who follow our linkroll may already have noted that the American Society of International Law (ASIL) has launched a great new website for the U.S. Presidential Campaign. Dubbed “International Law 2008” ASIL’s project has three components: (1) a collection of the candidates' policy statements and speeches on topics related to international law; (2) candidate responses to...
That essentially was the question raised in the recent Ninth Circuit case of Humanitarian Law Project v. Mukasey. The answer to the question is no. The Plaintiffs were hoping to train members of one terrorist group, PKK, by helping them (1) to use humanitarian and international law to peacefully resolve disputes; (2) to engage in political advocacy on...
I have posted a substantially revised and expanded version of my essay "What Happens to the Acquitted?" on SSRN. Here again is the abstract of the essay, which is forthcoming in the Leiden Journal of International Law:According to the ICTR, Emmanuel Bagambiki is an innocent man. The Trial Chamber and the Appeals chamber have each unanimously acquitted the former...
As I have noted before, human-rights groups have consistently and justifiably criticized the ICTR for failing to take seriously the systematic sexual violence committed against women during the 1994 genocide. Similar criticisms are now being leveled at the ICC regarding its investigation of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo:Congolese activists have launched an appeal at the...
The past few days has seen an intense internal EU debate over the stance the EU should take concerning the status of Kosovo. It is interesting to see how talk about international law was deployed as a tool of statecraft. As discussed in my last post, Russia has had a turn toward “legalization” as it became clear that the...
State Department Legal Adviser (& former OJ Guest Blogger) John Bellinger gave a major speech at Oxford University yesterday, entitled "Prisoners in War: Contemporary Challenges to the Geneva Conventions." If you care about U.S. detention policies, it's a must-read. For starters, it serves as a great encapsulation of U.S. legal arguments in defense of past and present detention...
Regarding Julian’s post on a possible Serbian suit in the ICJ over Kosovo, see also the following from AP and from AFP. According to these reports, the Serbs may seek a request by the Security Council of an advisory opinion from the ICJ concerning the status of Kosovo. They seem to want the Council to take up the...
Chambers and Partners has published their list of the top law firms for public international law. The top tier (or "band 1" as they call it): Clifford Chance Debevoise and Plimpton Eversheds Frere Cholmeley Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Latham and Watkins Shearman and Sterling White and Case The full post also includes a list of top PIL attorneys who are not affiliated with the top ranking firms. Chambers' description...
This month, Kosovo is planning to declare independence with the support of the EU and the United States. Russia and Serbia are dead-set opposed and Russia in particular is making all sorts of ugly noises about any potential Security Council resolutions on this topic. Serbia is also getting ready to try to block independence, although it seems like they...
