Has the U.S. government shifted its position on the ICC? I can't really tell if the following report of a speech by U.S. State Department Legal Adviser (and sometime-Opinio Juris guest blogger) John Bellinger represents a real shift in policy. "The U.S. must acknowledge that the ICC enjoys a large body of international support, and that many countries will...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has taken the first crack at applying the Supreme Court's recent decision in Medellin with respect to self-executing treaties. In Mora v. People of New York, the Second Circuit rejected a foreign national's effort to win damages for violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Interestingly, the Second...
Here is a sample of some of the wonderful map art of Susan Stockwell: Fleece England...
The American Society of International Law has recently begun partnering with journalism schools in an effort to introduce international law to future reporters and editorial boards. And, publications like ASIL Insightsand IL.Post are circulated broadly among media outlets, and ASIL makes the expertise of its membership available when issues or cases arise in which explanations of the law can be...
Story here and here. On the one hand, it nicely demonstrates of the dangers of local foreign policy. Local pols decide to do some showboating, out of their depth and unlikely to shoulder the consequnces, and next thing you know, you're looking at World War III. On the other hand, this may just be a hangover from the old...
One of the unintended consequences of the movement to hold corporations liable for aiding and abetting human rights abuses is that doing so may prove to be the most effective way of holding sovereigns accountable. That is the surprising conclusion of my latest article just published in the Notre Dame Law Review. Here is an excerpt: One has...
That would be the Financial Times, under the fairly emphatic headline "Democrats Must Choose Obama." As far as I can tell, it's the only foreign newspaper to make an endorsement. (Some might consider it not really all that foreign, given its large daily US circulation — so it's not like Le Monde putting down a marker — but the...
One of my students recently took the naturalization test and was kind enough to share with me the “Quick Civic Lessons” that the government hands out to help prepare for the test. Most questions are terribly easy, but I would suspect a few are hard for the average would-be American: 15. Who Elects the President of the United States? 19....
The very first post I wrote for Opinio Juris -- more than two years ago, when I was guest-blogging -- was about the inequality of arms that exists between the prosecution and defense at the international tribunals. I recall spending hours on the post, mustering facts, honing my arguments, polishing my prose. I was proud of my first...
[Professor Elihu Richter teaches at Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine and Public Health and heads the Program on Genocide Prevention. This post follows up on last week's discussion of Susan Benesch's VJIL article.] I congratulate the Virginia Journal of International Law for hosting this web-based discussion with Susan Benesch and Greg Gordon (among others) on the legal aspects of incitement...
From Convictions, his argument that a Democrat president won't show any more respect for IL than Bush has, paired with an engaging episode of bloggingheads.tv with Heather Hurlbut (for those of you with busy lives, you can listen to Eric and Heather talk really fast with the new 1.4x function!). Eric takes his usual skeptical view of international law,...
John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations, issued a draft report last week that "presented a conceptual and policy framework to anchor the business and human rights debate." The section that particularly grabbed my attention was on corporate complicity for human rights violations. Notice the shift toward recognition of corporate responsibility...
