Following up on Chris' post on the opening of the UN General Assembly this week and the U.N. reform agenda, it might be useful to check out some defenses of what the U.S. is seeking in the UN Reform process in the WSJ here and in the NYT here. The U.S. positions seem fairly reasonable, but I leave to Chris...
It seems like everyone wants the UN to change, to evolve, to reform. The trick is getting consensus on what such reform should look like. World leaders will have their chance this week to hammer something out at the plenary meeting of heads of state marking the 60thanniversary of the UN. (See also the State Department site on...
How many law professors get front page treatment in the Wall Street Journal? Today's WSJ profiles Prof. John Yoo of Berkeley, essentially treating him as an architect, maybe the architect of the Bush Administration's legal approach to the war on terrorism. Here are some excerpts:Mr. Yoo is playing an instrumental role in redefining the murky area where law intersects...
The Fourth Circuit's new opinion on Jose Padilla's challenge to his detention as an unlawful enemy combatant is here (thanks to Curtis Bradley for the heads up). The holding, by Judge Luttig (an oft-floated name for the Supreme Court) is:We conclude that the President does possess such authority pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force Joint Resolution enacted...
It is well known that Judge John Roberts served as a law clerk to the late Chief Justice Rehnquist, whom Roberts is quite likely to succeed. But less attention has been paid to the actual cases Roberts may have worked on as a law clerk for Rehnquist, even less attention to the cases that Rehnquist worked on when he was...
The Volcker Committee has delivered its report on the oil-for-food scandal at the UN. See also the BBC report about it here.Although it finds no direct wrongdoing by Kofi Annan, the Commission puts at his feet the responsibility for the Oil-for-Food Program being inadequately managed and going awry. We’ve already written much on the various allegations and preliminary findings....
Apropos of my post last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rice has made a point of publicly thanking foreign countries for their contributions to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Here is an excerpt from her news conference:. . we have, in fact, had offers from more than 70 countries around the world. We are now putting those offers to good...
To the surprise of none and the concern of many, a recent report finds that Asia has overtaken the Middle East as the developing world’s leading market for arms. China, India, Taiwan, Pakistan, and South Korea are among the developing world’s top ten arms importers. And, while China has been the developing world’s top importer from 2001 and into 2004,...
The Washington Post has a curious article today detailing Judge Roberts' doubts (but ultimate support) for U.S. ratification of the Convention Against Genocide during the Reagan Administration. The description of the memo is more evidence that, at least with respect to Judge Roberts' views on international law, Judge Roberts' opponents have very little to criticize. The memo simply noted that...
The Katrina disaster is far worse than most Americans could have expected. I've spent a fair amount of time in New Orleans and I remember people telling me that New Orleans in particular is vulnerable to hurricanes, but I never took it seriously. The pictures and stories coming out of the Gulf Coast are horrifying, and to many Americans,...
David Glazier at Intel Dump has provided this analysis of the new military commission rules here. Most of his criticisms seem fairly plausible, although I wonder about one particular claim he makes:There is an extensive body of WWII era precedent that establishes that the failure to provide a trial measuring up to customary international due process standards is in...
The Pentagon released new rules today governing procedures in military commission trials (the USA Today account is here and the WSJ account is here). Note that these rules will not directly affect the consideration of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (the case I discussed here involving Osama Bin Laden's driver) because the petitioner there is challenging the legality of the military commissions...
