John Bellinger, former State Department Legal Adviser has posted a very short piece entitled Bin Laden Killing: The Legal Basis. Here is an excerpt: The U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was lawful under both U.S. domestic law and international law...
The killing of Osama Bin Laden is no doubt a significant victory in the conflict with al Qaeda (see Michael Lewis' post here). However, contrary to Peter Bergen's assertion that "Killing bin Laden is the end of the war on terror. There is no one to replace him in Al Qaeda. Bin Laden was the guy who fought against...
The best lines in President Obama’s speech last night were at the beginning: It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory -- hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to...
The media is reporting that the Obama administration is handling Usama bin Laden's remains in accordance with Islamic principles. That decision is a stark reminder of why we are so fortunate that a Republican is no longer President. When the Bush administration killed Uday and Qusay Hussein, recall, it infuriated Muslims and at least arguably violated the First Additional Protocol...
Honestly, he does. The email doesn't lie: Attention, Beneficiary Due to the petitions received by the UN, I Secretary-General Ban ki-moon from all over the continent in regards to the fraudulent activities going on in the West Africa sub-region with security's agent and diplomats who has been delaying people's funds, consignment and valuables in their custody and demand outrageous fees to get...
I've been on a self-imposed blogging hiatus of late due to the dual demands of serving as Temple's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and editing the forthcoming book, The Oxford Guide to Treaties (on which I'll blog more later). But, I had to pass along the following significant and important development -- Superman is renouncing his U.S. citizenship. Here's the scoop...
Not surprisingly, conservatives and the Obama administration are falling all over themselves to praise Paul Clement for his brave willingness to represent the House of Representatives at the low, low rate of $520.00 per hour -- practically pro bono. The idea that zealous representation is an end in itself, regardless of client or cause, is one of the most basic...
At Lawfare today, Ben Wittes criticizes King & Spalding for refusing to help the House of Representatives defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court. His argument turns on an analogy between representing the House and representing Gitmo detainees: Sometimes, the politically unpopular client is the House of Representatives, not a Guantanamo detainee. Sometimes, the contested legal questions...
Lindseth’s claim in his new book is simple, intriguing, and surely will be seen as radical by most European law scholars: the European Union (EU) should be studied as an administrative rather than a constitutional project. Instead of reading the Lisbon Treaty as Member States’ acquiescence to a European constitutional order – one in which EU law is paramount and...
Let me first thank Peter and the other members of Opinio Juris for providing this space for an online discussion of my new book. Let me also thank Ken, Francesca, and Fernanda for taking the time to offer comments. I am really looking forward to this exchange. As its title suggests, Power and Legitimacy grapples with what I see...
That question is raised by the ICC's investigation of the post-election violence in Kenya, which included a number of forcible circumcisions of Luo men. According to IRIN Africa, although the OPT originally alleged that the forcible circumcision qualified as the crime against humanity "other form of sexual violence" under Article 7(1)(g) of the Rome Statute, the Pre-Trial Chamber reclassified the...
Publicly, Israel has been nothing but critical of the Goldstone Report. Netanyahu responded to Goldstone's recent partial retraction, for example, by calling for the "twisted and nonfactual" Report to be thrown "into the dustbin of history." Behind the scenes, however, Israel has taken a different approach. According to the Jewish Press, the Report has led the IDF to adopt some very...
