Last week, President Obama submitted the Treaty with Russia on Measures for the Further Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms to the U.S. Senate. Reading it is tough going, given all the technical terminology. A couple of not very profound observation: 1) Is this Treaty self-executing? For the many pro-self execution folks, the answer should be yes (look at the Supremacy Clause!)....
The young Somali captured last year in dramatic U.S. Navy operation has plea bargained himself into a minimum 27 year sentence. A Somali man has pleaded guilty in New York's court to seizing a US ship and kidnapping its captain last year. Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse now faces a minimum of 27 years in prison. He is expected to be sentenced in October. Muse...
I guess this is why they need a ban on the burka in France. Stories like this make France seem decidedly more unpleasant for certain Muslims than Arizona is for illegal immigrants: France had its first case of “burka rage” at the weekend when a shopper allegedly tried to pull the veil from the face of a Muslim woman and the...
Justice Kennedy has returned to foreign sources in his Eighth Amendment jurisprudence with today's decision in Graham v. Florida, striking down state statutes sentencing juveniles to life without parole for crimes other than homicide: [A]s petitioner contends and respondent does not contest, the United States is the only Nation that imposes life without parole sentences on juvenile nonhomicide offenders. We also...
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its first-ever international family law opinion today in Abbott v. Abbott. You can access the decision here. In short, a 6-3 majority (authored by Justice Kennedy) found that the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction treats ne exeat rights (that is, rights to consent before the other parent takes the child...
I seriously doubt it, but Richard Sher, a former Department of Justice official in the Office of Special Investigations, thinks Goldstone's apartheid-era past justifies denying Goldstone a visa to the U.S. In a letter sent to US officials, Neal Sher, a former executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said that recently disclosed information about Goldstone’s apartheid-era rulings raised...
Well, it's a good thing he already has another job lined up, although I agree with Kevin (!) that the ICC Prosecutor is making a mistake in bringing Garzon on board. The AP reports: MADRID — The Spanish judge who became an international hero by going after Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden was suspended Friday for allegedly abusing his authority...
The International Law Association's 2010 Biennial Conference, “De Iure Humanitatis: Peace, Justice, and International Law” takes place August 15-20 in The Hague. Early reduced-fee registration ends tomorrow, May 15. It looks to be a great program, hosted by the Dutch Branch of ILA, with some fun side events in and around The Hague. (You may even see a couple of...
As I've noted before, I am not an expert in the case law on revocation or renunciation of US citizenship, but I wanted to flag Professor Peter Schuck in the Wall Street Journal today arguing that it is indeed possible to revoke Faisal Shahzad's citizenship. Behind the subscriber wall, here. A bit from the middle of the piece: Revoking the citizenship...
Alan Dershowitz has never been shy to express his views, but I think he may be going a bit far here in reaction to recent stories about Judge Richard Goldstone's service to the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Goldstone was--quite literally--a hanging judge. He imposed and affirmed death sentences for more than two dozen blacks under circumstances where whites would almost...
I'm sorry, but I still find the argument that the Arizona Immigration Law violates the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination deeply unpersuasive. The fact that five U.N. special rapporteurs on human rights have weighed in here with the same analysis as Human Rights Watch doesn't convince me of much, other than that I am even less impressed...
It doesn't look like she's written anything even remotely related to international law (it is surprising how little she's written on anything, for an academic). On the now-standard question of what role IL should have in constitutional interpretation, we have this out-on-a-limb answer from her confirmation as Solicitor General: I do not believe that international law (assuming it has not been incorporated...
