General

International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: A Partial Defense of “Insider Doctrinal History”

One of the most intriguing and admirable aspects of this book is that the editors have included within it a scathing critique of the project as a whole. In Chapter 5, “A Social History of International Law: A Historical Commentary, 1861-1900,” John Fabian Witt comments on three preceding chapters on the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence during that period. ...

International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: A Handful of Grand Narrative Questions

Harlan Cohen raises an important caution against being swept up in the attraction, indeed intellectual comfort, of an intellectual grand narrative that can give apparent coherence to a topic as broad-ranging and heterogeneous as international law in the Supreme Court.  The point is very well taken, particularly as it runs to the framing of historical periods; the device of historical periods is useful - essential even - to a point, but only if it is taken as the starting point for sorting things out and not the final arbiter of interpretation, especially on any particular matter. That said, there is more than simply an organizational imperative in asking some framing questions.  I'd like to raise a couple of them here, as a preface for the kinds of issues that most intrigue me in looking at this marvelous study.  They are not in any logical order, and one might easily argue that I've followed a kind of narrative imperative in the ones I've chosen, but they still seem to me important in practically any kind of historical study of this area.

International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: Introduction

On behalf of myself and my co-editors David Sloss and William Dodge, thanks to Opinio Juris for hosting this book discussion.  As readers of this blog know, the twenty-first century’s first decade was an extraordinarily active one for international law in the Supreme Court.  In the debates about leading cases such as Medellin v. Texas and Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, we...

A Book Discussion: International Law in The U.S. Supreme Court

I'm pleased to announce that Opinio Juris is hosting its latest book discussion this coming week.  We will feature International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court (CUP, 2011), which was edited by David Sloss, Mike Ramsey, and Bill Dodge.  In the interest of disclosure, I would note that two Opinio Juris regulars participated in the volume:  I authored the second chapter on how the...