It's certainly not over yet, but it isn't looking good: As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moves to ease a backlog of executive branch nominations, he suggested on Tuesday that he does not have the votes to bring up President Barack Obama’s pick to run the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. “Right now we’re finding out when to do...
I am obviously on record as supporting the criminal prosecution of the individuals involved in the CIA's torture regime -- the interrogators who inflicted it, the military and government officials who ordered it, the OLC lawyers who rationalized it. Such prosecutions are, unfortunately, extremely unlikely -- at least in the United States. Moreover, there does not seem to be any...
It seems the new Secretary of Agriculture may be provoking another round of trade litigation with Canada. Canada took action against the United States at the World Trade Organization on Thursday over a U.S. meat labeling law that Canadian producers say has hurt their hog and cattle sales. Ottawa requested a further round of consultations, a formal step that will enable...
This is obviously not an objective source, but it is interesting to see the trends in international human rights law advocacy overseas. Abortion used to be a no-no subject for NGOs like Amnesty, and still is for some groups like Human Rights First. But, if this report is correct, Amnesty International has gotten off the fence on this question. I...
Peter may be amused that there is now a "Sovereignty Caucus" in the U.S. Congress. Not surprisingly, their first target is the Koh nomination. Maybe sovereigntism is quite dead....
Here is an interesting but ultimately futile act: Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in Cairo on Thursday decided to file a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice against the Israeli occupation government for its drive to Judaize Jerusalem. A diplomatic source at the Arab League said that the ministers had three issues on their agenda; dangers engulfing Jerusalem, discussion of the...
As the BBC reports here, the DR Congo parliament has passed an amnesty law for "acts of war" committed by militia in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. Although it looks aimed to assist the ongoing peace process within the DRC, the granting of an amnesty for only DR nationals (foreign fighters are not included) and then...
I continue to read stories of law firms who are encouraging their associates to take a paid leave-of-absence next year. As reported here, Skadden is offering associates $80,000 to take a year off. Morrison & Foerster reportedly will pay incoming associates approximately $85,000 if they will defer their start date until January 2011. Many other firms, including...
Yes it has! At least according to Andrew McCarthy, who argues in this National Review article that the Obama administration's brief in a case seeking to uphold its decision to deport Demjanjuk adopted the same narrow interpretation of the U.S. torture statute's requirement of specific intent as the much-vilified Bybee/Yoo memos. ...
With leaks and rumors flying fast and furious (and uncomfirmable) in D.C. this week about what the Administration is likely to decide to do with the remaining Gitmo detainees, it’s no surprise the detention debate is again heating up. If you haven’t seen it already, take a look at Lindsay Graham and John McCain’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal...
Steve Charnovitz has this interesting post at the IELP Blog about a joint statement on the swine A(H1N1) flu virus issued by the FAO, WHO, WTO, and OIE (extra credit to those of you already on to the last one: the World Organization for Animal Health). Steve quite plausibly challenges the WTO's authority to make this kind of pronouncement as...
Congratulations to Ed Swaine and Sean Murphy for yesterday's Potomac Roundtable on foreign relations law at GW. It was a terrific meeting, with excellent papers from Kristina Daugirdas, Louis Fisher, and Ed Swaine - topics ranging from FSIA to war powers to Youngstown. I learned a lot - Duncan was also in attendance from Philly - and it was great...
