In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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13 Dec

An incident of anti-immigrant sentiment, there have been some prominent calls over the last two years or so to scale back the near absolute rule of territorial birthright citizenship under which anyone born in the United States (save the children of diplomats) is extended citizenship at birth. In the last Congress several bills were introduced that would have limited...

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12 Dec

Eric Muller, a UNC law professor and WWII historian who blogs at Is That Legal?, has posted an "open letter" to the Institute for Political and International Studies of the Foreign Ministry of Iran that recounts the fate of his great-uncle at the hands of the Nazis. It's a powerful, moving letter (with amazing photos). The letter is...

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12 Dec

As some of you may know, voting for the best law blog of 2006 is in its final week. Shamefully, Opinio Juris was not nominated — yet another example of the profession's bias against us international law types. That said, the other blog to which I contribute, The Grotian Moment, was nominated. If you used the blog...

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12 Dec

We're delighted to have Derek Jinks, who teaches international and criminal law subjects at the University of Texas Law School, on board as a guest blogger for the next couple of weeks. Derek's book on the laws of war is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. His papers can be found here, including his most recent piece (co-authored with...

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12 Dec

Which of following South American countries is among the least corrupt countries in the world: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, or Peru? Which of the following Middle East/North African countries is among the most corrupt countries in the world: Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, or Syria? (Continue Reading) According to Transparency International's recently published corruption index for 2006, the correct answer is Chile...

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12 Dec

One of the more interesting sidebar comments that occurred during the ASIL Interest Group meeting in San Diego yesterday came from Bill Dodge regarding the MCA. With his permission, I will post the gist of it. If I understood him correctly, he essentially suggested that the ex post facto provision of the MCA included an interesting reference that...

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11 Dec

As Roger mentioned, a number of us are hanging out today in San Diego. Professor Peter Krug of University of Oklahoma has presented an intriguing paper on domestic court treatment of international court decisions. The U.S. Supreme Court applied a "respectful consideration" standard to disregard the decision of the International Court of Justice in Sanchez-Llamas back in June....

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11 Dec

I'm sure Kevin will have more to say about this, but it is worth noting that Augusto Pinochet, former Chilean dictator and the target of many international prosecution efforts for his actions as Chilean dictator, passed away yesterday. Pinochet may indeed face punishment for his crimes, but it won't be at the hands of international or domestic courts. ...

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11 Dec

Kofi Annan gave his final public speech today as UN Secretary General. He chose to give it in a place full of historical resonances: Independence, Missouri, the birthplace of Harry Truman, the American President most associated with the UN. In part, this may be viewed as a rebuke to President George W. Bush, who has been the sharpest...

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11 Dec

Several OJ contributors (Peter, Duncan, Julian and Roger) are in San Diego today as part of an ASIL Interest Group meeting. Right now we are discussing with John McGinnis and a couple dozen other prominent internatioal law scholars this provocative article by John McGinnis and Ilya Somin, in which they argue that customary international law is fundamentally defective because...

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11 Dec

Bill Dodge has an interesting piece on customary international law and Sosa that was recently published on SSRN. It is worth a read, particularly in light of our online workshop on the piece by Jack Goldsmith, Curtis Bradley, and David Moore. Here is Dodge's abstract: This paper explores the role of customary international law in the U.S. legal system...

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09 Dec

Jeane Kirkpatrick died yesterday. Here is the New York Times obituary. And here is an excerpt from her 1979 article, Dictatorships and Double Standards, in Commentary that launched her political career: Fulfilling the duties and discharging the functions of representative government make heavy demands on leaders and citizens, demands for participation and restraint, for consensus and compromise. It is...

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