As reported here, Ricardo Miguel Cavallo, a.k.a. "Serpico" or the "Angel of Death" can be tried in Spain for alleged torture committed over twenty-five years ago in Argentina. "The National Audience ruled that it has jurisdiction to try Cavallo for the crimes he allegedly committed under the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983) ...
Today's New York Times has an interesting piece on the promotion of human/women's rights in Africa and the tension between such rights and local custom. This is an excellent illustration of the central problem with international law (at least from a political science perspective). As I have discussed in several other posts here, the critical tension is between sovereign equality...
The ACLU announced yesterday that it has filed a petition against the United States at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Jessica Gonzales, a Colorado woman and victim of domestic violence. She lost her claim in US federal courts, which she argued all the way to the US Supreme Court, that the failure of local police to...
I've been grading exams this week and reading various student explanations of how a decision on an international legal issue (defining torture) will vary depending on whether the decision-maker has a positivist or naturalist approach to international law. Of course, I could have asked my students to consider other "schools" of international legal theory -- e.g., the New Haven School,...
I saw Munich over the weekend and found it quite an astounding achievement by Steven Spielberg. One of the most complex and engaging movies he has produced in years. It certainly ranks up there with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. There are plenty of good reviews of the movie. The New York Times has two reviews here...
This is a quick follow up on my post and Seth’s post, concerning Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish writer who was shortlisted for the Nobel and also faces criminal charges for insulting the Turkish nation.Pamuk is a great Turkish writer, however he is also a controversial figure, having criticized Turkey for ignoring Armenian and Kurdish massacres. This controversy is something Turkey...
There is a great post by Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog on the Solicitor General's filing in Padilla yesterday. But what really caught my attention came from the comments. There was wild speculation that the U.S. government was so concerned about the heated discussion at Volokh on Hamdi, Padilla, and domestic surveillance that perhaps the government "has taken down Volokh. Anyone...
Interesting story from South Korea about prosecutors using text messaging to inform citizens that they have been indicted. In a country where 75 percent of the population carries mobile phones, the government concluded that it was more efficient to provide legal notices to citizens electronically instead of by mail. So if your battery dies or your phone is...
Owen Pell at White & Case has a chapter in our book Holocaust Restitution entitled, "Historical Reparation Claims: A Defense Perspective." The chapter in essence argues that a company that wishes to defend against historical reparation claims must have detailed knowledge about its company history. He writes, "A crucial lesson of the Holocaust asset cases is that companies must invest...
Over at the Exploring International Law blog, run by Anthony Arend (a former professor of mine at Georgetown), is an excellent post on the question of how any suits regarding warrantless NSA surveillance might reach the courts. I'm sure my colleagues here at Opinio Juris are much more qualified and capable of addressing this question than am I, but...
I have written on the madness of Mahmoud Ahmadinejah and the threat Iran poses to Israel. See here, here, and here. Other bloggers are now joining the fray.David Bernstein at Volokh Conspiracy has just returned from Israel and has this prediction: "I predict that Israel will strike Iran within the next few months, with the goal of disrupting...
The chances that Augusto Pinochet, age 90, may one day face prosecution increased dramatically this week after the Supreme Court of Chile ruled that he was fit to stand trial. Here is a link from the BBC, which has the best English coverage of the news. Photos and video clips from Chile showing Pinochet and the Supreme Court are available...
