In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

23 Jan

[ David Landau, Assistant Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law, describes his recently published article, The Reality of Social Rights Enforcement. This article is part of the Third Harvard International Law Journal/Opinio Juris Symposium.] Despite the lack of socio-economic rights in the U.S. Constitution and the absence of political will to enforce them, the vast majority of constitutions...

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23 Jan

Well…maybe not international law directly…but I thought that headline potentially captivating and not misleading. I apologize for a guest post during this excellent Harvard symposium, but Newsweek reports that the Obama administration is finally going to reveal a bit more about its legal authority to target and kill US. citizens (in armed conflict or national self-defense) without a prior judicial...

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22 Jan

Rick Wilson, who heads the human rights clinic at my school, Washington College of Law, asks me to pass along the following invitation to anyone interested in the DC area on Friday: Please join Human Rights USA and American University Washington College of Law for the release of Indefensible: A Reference for Proescuting Torture and Other Felonies Committed by U.S. Officials...

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16 Jan

Tomorrow, as part of its Leading Figures in International Dispute Resolution Series, the ASIL’s International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group (ICTIG) will host a talk by Meg Kinnear, Secretary General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to discuss the ICSID system for settling investor-state disputes. The event details are as follows: ASIL Headquarters, Tillar House 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington DC 20008 January 17, 2012 6:00...

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09 Jan

The choice of book reviewer might be surprising but the result, unfortunately, is not.  Yoo reviews two books: David Scheffer's memoir All the Missing Souls  and William Shawcross' Justice and the Enemy. Scheffer's book details his time working on war crimes issues, ultimately as the Ambassador at Large on War Crimes, in President Clinton's State Department. (Disclosure: we hope to have Scheffer...

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08 Jan

I am delighted to announce that Lt. Col. Chris Jenks -- currently the head of the International Law Branch at the U.S. Army JAG, an occasional contributor to Opinio Juris, and my very first PhD student (my colleague Gerry Simpson is his other supervisor) -- has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at SMU's Dedman School of Law.  Chris will...

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08 Jan

The Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) continues to prompt intense opposition from Americans overseas.  In my post below, I suggested that some would simply take their citizenship underground, on the expectation of imperfect enforcement and the continuing value of holding a US passport -- becoming, in effect, secret Americans. Others are predicting that large numbers of Americans abroad will shed...

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06 Jan

Opinio Juris seeks candidates for the position of Assistant Editor. Responsibilities include monitoring international law developments, liaising with permanent contributors to organize special events, working with guest bloggers and partner publications on submission of posts and commentary, and other administrative duties. It is anticipated that the assistant editor will work ten to twenty hours a week. The...

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04 Jan

The US is one of the few countries in the world to tax nonresident citizens. But enforcement overseas has never been easy, or much of a priority.  That is, until the authorities uncovered some big-time asset offshoring by resident citizens (yes, in Swiss bank accounts) for purposes of tax evasion. That resulted in legislation directed at foreign holdings of all US...

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03 Jan

We hope you never left, but in case you have not been keeping up with Opinio Juris over the holiday season, here is what you missed: 1. Two excellent blog posts setting the record straight about the NDAA, graciously provided to us by two experts on the subject, Marty Lederman and Steve Vladeck.  You can find Part I here and Part...

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