On Friday, March 6, 2009, the University of California, Davis, School of Law will host its annual Law Review Symposium. This year's symposium will focus on the Honorable John Paul Stevens, a subject which should be of great interest to many readers of this blog. Speakers include IntLawGrrls' Diane Amann (a former Stevens clerk) speaking on the Equality panel and our our...
I've been critical of the Obama Administration's deceptive approach to war-on-terrorism legal issues (trash your predecessor, but endorse some of his key policies). But I don't have any real criticism of its latest decision to avoid the legal fight over the power to detain enemy combatants in the U.S. The Justice Department, in an abrupt change in policy from the Bush...
Yesterday, the U.S. State Department released the 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- colloquially referred to as the Annual Human Rights Report. As a matter of law, it is a report by the State Department to the United States Congress. The mandate grew from a requirement of congressional review of foreign assistance to a more comprehensive summary of...
Following our recent switch to a new server, we have also changed our email subscription service at Opinio Juris. On the lower right toolbar you will find a widget under "register/logon/contact" that will permit you to "sign up for email alerts and updates." The email service by Feedburner will then give you the option to sign up for an email...
I wanted to flag for readers an on-line discussion that we are planning for next Monday-Wednesday, March 2-4. We will be pleased to host Richard Gardiner (University College London) for a discussion of his book, Treaty Interpretation. In addition to comments by the regular contributors, we will have several distinguished guest bloggers, all of whom know a thing or two...
To read the accounts of detention conditions at Guantanamo this week coming from the latest DOD review on the one hand, and detainee lawyers on the other, you’d think the reporters had visited not just different prisons, but prisons on different planets. Report #1 is the product of President Obama’s executive order of January 22, charging the Defense Secretary...
The Sixth Circuit last week rendered an important amended opinion in O'Bryan v. Holy See addressing the question of whether the Holy See could be sued for its role in the clergy sexual abuse scandal. The decision is fascinating and should be quite controversial. As an initial matter it is worth pondering the essential conclusion of the Court: every...
In connection with some work I am doing on Lincoln and the ethics of war in the Second Inaugural, I have been interested in Lincoln's famous phrases in the Address that the "prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully," and others that bind north and south in the causes, and responsibility for slavery...
Belgium has filed a request for an order of provisional measures from the International Court of Justice against Senegal for that country's failure to prosecute former Chad dictator Hissene Habre. The press release describing Belgium's application lays out the legal theory, which boils down to: The Convention Against Torture and general international customary law. Belgium contends that under conventional international law, "Senegal’s...
It turns out conditions at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay do not violate U.S. obligations under Common Article III of the Geneva Conventions. So says a review of the detention center by the Pentagon that was ordered by President Obama. A Pentagon review of conditions in the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the...
While Georgia has already gotten a provisional meausres order from the ICJ and there is some movement in terms of restarting a diplomatic process after this summer's war between the two countries, the people of Georgia have decided to bring in the real arbiter of European politics: the Eurovision song competition. This yearly song competition is no stranger to high drama...
Last week I blogged about those incredibly irresponsible law professors who have tenure but do almost nothing to advance the institution. This week I want to turn the tables and talk about that delightful breed of law professors who are incredibly unselfish and manage to immeasurably improve the quality of the institution. Michael Lewis' wonderful article on the...
