In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

04 Jul

QS World University Rankings has released its list of the world's top law schools.  Here are the top 30: 1.  Harvard 2.  Oxford 3.  Cambridge 4.  Yale 5.  Stanford 6.  Berkeley 7.  Columbia 8.  London School of Economics 9.  Melbourne 10. NYU 11. Sydney 12. McGill 13. Toronto 14. Chicago 15. Australia National University 16. UCLA 17. Michigan 18. Auckland 19. Victoria University Wellington 20. Monash 21. King's College London 22. University College London 23. University of British Columbia 24. National University Singapore 25. University...

|
03 Jul

Ben Wittes, long an advocate for clearer domestic legislation authorizing U.S. detention operations, writes to ask whether my recent post favoring the Senate’s over the House’s version of pending legislation signals a shift in my position opposing new such legislation. The short answer is no. Here’s why. I’d praised the Senate’s draft of force authorization language as follows: “Where...

|
02 Jul

Humberto Leal is scheduled for execution in Texas on July 7th. A Mexican national, Leal was not notified of his right to consular assistance under the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations. In light of the International Court of Justice's decision in the Avena case (Mexico v. U.S.), Congress is currently working on legislation to bring the U.S. into compliance with its international...

|
29 Jun

The past week has seen various developments in Congress’ efforts to consider legislation regulating the detention of ‘unprivileged enemy belligerents’ at Guantanamo and beyond. Most notable, the Senate finally released the language of its version of the defense authorization bill, and it includes a number of provisions that parallel those passed by the House of Representatives back in May....

|
22 Jun

My future Notre Dame colleague Mary Ellen O'Connell joins the fray criticizing Harold Koh's crabbed definition of hostilities. Here's a taste: Harold Koh, legal adviser to the U.S. State Department, attempted to convince Congress on June 15 that the "limited nature" of U.S. military operations in Libya are not "hostilities" as envisioned in the War Powers Resolution, and, therefore,...

|
21 Jun

The controversy over the Administration's interpretation of the War Powers Resolution has some people conflating that issue with the broader one of when the President can use force without congressional authorization. This isn't surprising, since the Administration has used a similar tack in both contexts.  With respect to the War Powers Resolution, the Administration claims the Libya operation does not constitute...

|
21 Jun

If you had been thinking about submitting a paper or a panel proposal for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law but had missed the deadline, despair not!  The deadline has been extended to this Friday, June 24th.  The webpage for submissions is here. And, in case you hadn't seen it already, this is the theme statement...

|
21 Jun

I'm on vacation in God's Own Country, the Eastern Sierra Nevada, where I am going almost wholly offline.  One or two vital emails, but basically no blogging, websurfing, mindlessly hitting link buttons.  I'm going to break my addiction to restless, pointless web cruising, and here in the land of perfect light - hiking, biking, a great gym, the Sierra Nevada...

|
17 Jun

The Supreme yesterday gave the green light to an individual asserting a Tenth Amendment defense in a criminal prosecution under a federal statute enacted pursuant to the Chemical Weapons Convention (Bond v. United States).  The facts of the case are certainly more lurid than our run-of-the-mine foreign relations law cases.  The basic claim:  the Treaty Power doesn't add anything to...

|
16 Jun

Here is the Administration's legal analysis (in full) of why the 60/90-day clock of the War Powers Resolution doesn't apply to the continuing Libya operation: The President is of the view that the current U.S. military operations in Libya are consistent with the War Powers Resolution and do not under that law require further congressional authorization, because U.S. military operations are...

|
15 Jun

The Wall Street Journal national security reporting team, followed closely by the Washington Post and the AP, have been reporting in the last couple of days on the CIA being tasked to carry out an expanded Predator drone targeted killing program in Yemen.  I’ve been meaning to blog on this, following on Deborah's post below discussing the AP story, but...

|