to those celebrating it. (Not everyone at OJ rains on the July 4 parade!) For those in DC, in addition to the usual stuff, you might check out the historical reenactment of Frederick Douglass's July 5 speech, as Randy Barnett notes, at its historic site in Anacostia (Professor Barnett has a very interesting discussion and commentary on the speech at...
As happens every July 5th, tomorrow’s newspapers will carry reports of attractively diverse groups of immigrants naturalizing as U.S. citizens in uplifting ceremonies, flags waving, with predictable but heartfelt welcomes from judges and elected officials. This Independence Day ritual is perhaps the only public relations play of the federal government’s immigration agencies that seems to work. It bears out all...
I don't know quite what to make of this story from the AP of July 3, 2009: African leaders approve anti-ICC move By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU – 9 hours ago SIRTE, Libya (AP) — African leaders have approved a contentious decision to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. The final decision by the African Union heads of state...
Next week looks to be a busy one on Capitol Hill. As the Obama Administration Task Force on Detention nears its initial July 21 reporting deadline, both the House Judiciary and Senate Armed Services Committees will be holding hearings on a closely related topic: legal issues surrounding the use of military commissions to try offenses against the law of war....
I don't know whether one should believe this or not; via Megan McArdle, via Newmajority.com, which links to a news-service I have occasionally read, Avanova, but whose page comes up empty on my browser. I'm going to ask Eugene Kontorovich what he thinks (delighted to have Eugene guest-blogging with us!). Is this remotely plausible or urban legend? So, with all...
Let me follow up on Julian's post and add that Harold Koh was equally derisive of signing statements during the Bush Administration. Here's the transcript and video of an exchange between OLC nominee Dawn Johnsen and State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Constitution Society. Just a few choice excerpts that...
Was I unfair in calling Barack Obama "hypocritical" in issuing his (otherwise sensible and constitutional) signing statements last week? Hypocrisy is a strong charge. On the other hand, Obama explicitly denounced the "theory of George Bush that he can make laws as he is going along" by using signing statements and then flatly promised not to use any such statements...
The ICC's case in support of the genocide charge is taking a beating, as this Washington Post article details. The problem might be Moreno-Ocampo's erratic leadership, or it could be the ICC as a whole has too many brilliant ambitious lawyers with not nearly enough to do. So they are quietly undermining Moreno-Ocampo by resigning or by writing articles critical...
This would otherwise be a non-event, except for the fact that Kosovo's accession to the IMF and World Bank is a further blow to Serbia's ongoing case to deny Kosovo legal recognition as an independent state. Should international economic institutions like the IMF and World Bank wait for the ICJ to rule on Kosovo's status before taking such a step?...
Iraqis are wondering if their legislators should be permitted to hold dual citizenship (see here). Current law permits multiple nationality but not among those holding "senior positions" in the government. Some want to clarify the bar to include parliamentarians. There's apparently some concern that dual citizenship gives corrupt officials an escape hatch, as in, they have someplace to flee when...
I have posted a new essay on SSRN: "Completion Strategies and the Office of the Prosecutor." The essay is my contribution to a multi-year research workshop at Catholic University Leuven on the history of the prosecutor in international criminal law; the workshop will culminate in a book to be published by Oxford in 2010. Here is the abstract: With the exception...
Remember the dangerous George W. Bush whose outrageous executive power arguments were leading us toward a Nazi-style dictatorship? It's a good thing we elected a new President who...
