The checks and refund requests won't only be coming in by domestic mail. The US is one of only a handful of states that subject nonresident citizens to income tax. All nonresident citizens abroad have to file; and those earning more than $85,700 may have to pony up. It can complicate pay packages, as detailed in this...
Our hope for those who are working to promote the legal concept of odious debt—whatever their political stripe or ecumenical affiliation—is that our exploration of Sack’s life will serve to lessen the focus on Sack and his theory in a way that will redound to the benefit of the movement. The emphasis on Sack’s résumé has had two negative...
I am very grateful to Professors Mitu Gulati and Sarah Ludington for the wealth of information they have gathered about the life of Alexander Sack, the Russian legal scholar who penned the doctrine of odious debts, in their article "A Convenient Untruth: Fact and Fantasy in the Doctrine of Odious Debts." I have taken note of the authors' view that...
Those of you who follow the literature and debate about odious debts forgiveness have probably noted the frequent mention of Alexander Sack, who is credited with authoring the doctrine of odious debts in his 1927 treatise on the subject of sovereign debt partition: Les Effets des transformations des Etats sur leurs dettes publiques et autres obligations financiers. Sack is...
Okay, that's a joke. But I'm not sure quite what to make of Global Governance Watch, a new joint project of the American Enterprise Institute and the Federalist Society. (Bolton keynoted today's launch.) On the one hand, you just know there has to be an anti-internationalist strategem at work here, and there is some evidence to back...
Free speech at the Beijing Olympics is becoming a hot topic. IOC President Jacques Rogge held a press conference last week taking a firm line restricting all political speech anywhere at an Olympic site. Rule 51.3 of the Olympic Charter provides that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites,...
The Virginia Journal of International Law is pleased to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris in this third online symposium. This week’s symposium will feature three articles recently published in Vol. 48-3 of VJIL, available here . Our discussion on Tuesday will focus on the mysterious history of Alexander Nahum Sack, the Russian-born legal scholar whose once obscure theory of...
Naomi Norberg has a fascinating post today at IntLawGrrls about the legal treatment of modern-day pirates. I just want to point readers to a recent article in The Sunday Times about British fears that captured pirates could ask for asylum in the UK:The Royal Navy, once the scourge of brigands on the high seas, has been told by the...
After Medellin—which calls into question whether treaties have the status of law—I’ll be curious whether the folks at Schoolhouse Rock decide to produce a variation on the old classic cartoon, “I’m Just a Bill.” Here are some possible lyrics for a new cartoon entitled, “I’m Just a Treaty”: You sure have to climb a lot of steps to get to...
There are many topics that come to mind from yesterday's ASIL program, but the biggest takeaway for me came from the annual meeting with the passing of the torch from José Alvarez to Lucy Reed. The strength of any learned society depends on its leadership and Alvarez has done an exceptional job as ASIL President. His President's columns...
John Yoo now has his own song courtesy of Harry Shearer's Le Show. It's probably not a song he or those who support him will like with its chorus of "Who is Yoo . . . Torture Memo Man." And, I suspect they'll dismiss it entirely, given its very liberal source. Still, regardless of how you feel...
Michigan Law Review's "2008 Survey of Books Related to the Law" is now available on-line. Two OJ'ers have review essays in the issue: yours truly, reviewing Mark Drumbl's Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law; and Roger, reviewing Ron Krotoszynski's The First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Comparative Legal Analysis of the Freedom of Speech. The issue also contains a...
