In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

25 Sep

Ed Whelan notes (in his typically colorful way) that State Department Legal Advisor Harold Koh has been implementing one of President Obama's signing statements with respect to meeting with designated state sponsors of terrorism at U.N. meetings.  A federal law passed by Congress and signed by Obama prohibits such meetings, but Obama issued a signing statement saying the provision on...

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25 Sep

I opened the latest SSRN Public International Law listings this morning and noted with pleasure Peggy's response to Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen's recent article on constitutional interpretation and international law.  Peggy's reply is in the Yale Law Journal online edition.  As always Peggy makes fresh and lively arguments, and although I incline to Professor Paulsen's views on this, I think...

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25 Sep

Among many administration doings on the human rights front this week, the Senate this week voted to confirm Mike Posner as Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Mike had served as executive director at Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) for decades since its founding, and is as steeped as...

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25 Sep

I've only been vaguely aware of the ongoing battle between Chevron and Ecuador.  Ecuador courts are currently entertaining an enormous lawsuit against Chevron, but Chevron has really taken the offensive by releasing videos suggesting that the Ecuadorian judge has been accepting bribes.  And in its latest salvo, Chevron has filed an investor-state claim under the United States- Ecuador Bilateral Investment...

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23 Sep

I know you have all missed my blogging about international trade law.  So now that I'm back (at least for a while), let me highlight a neat legal issue raised by China in its appeal of a recent WTO decision against its restrictions on foreign media.  According to this WSJ report, China has raised the "public morals" defense contained in...

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23 Sep

On the eve of President Obama taking the chair at the Security Council, David Bosco takes on a few of the common assumptions about the Council over at Foreign Policy.  I largely agree with Bosco's quick (and yes, Ken, "breezy" - it seems to be a quality FP is promoting these days!) take on the central themes: (1) the Council...

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23 Sep

University of Pennsylvania law professor Paul Robinson had a stinging, but somewhat confusing critique of the international law governing the use of force in yesterday's WSJ. Last week the United Nations issued a report painting the Israelis as major violators of international law in the three-week Gaza war that began in December 2008. While many find the conclusion a bit unsettling or...

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23 Sep

I break my self-imposed blog exile to shamelessly promote an event we are hosting at Hofstra this Friday: the first ever all day teaching workshop devoted solely to teaching international law. The event is sponsored by the American Society of International Law and the American Branch of the International Law Association with the support of Hofstra. (OK, I don't actually know...

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22 Sep

My sympathies are with those who have to drive anywhere in Manhattan this week as the General Assembly gets underway.  In past years I have experienced the privilege of being inside the security cordon and also the inconvenience of being outside it.  But now we can all experience being inside the main public events through the UN Webcast!  The...

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21 Sep

According to Newsweek, the answer may well be yes: As chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo has so far steered clear of controversial cases. In doing so, he hoped to allay U.S. fears that the ICC would become a politicized tool for settling scores. Which is why it's so surprising that Moreno-Ocampo is now considering an investigation into...

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18 Sep

In case you were curious about the text of the letter sent by former directors of the CIA to President Obama urging him to reverse the AG's decision to appoint a prosecutor to investigate various CIA activities under the Bush administration, RCP has posted a pdf of the text.  It is short and, unsurprisingly, rests on the names of the...

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