In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Inaugural Harvard International Law Journal/Opinio Juris Symposium

06 Feb

We here at Opinio Juris are very pleased to host this coming week our first on-line symposium featuring work from the Harvard International Law Journal. For those interested in a preview of the week's events, here's the line-up: On Monday, Stavros Gadinis and Eric Pan will respond to Pierre-Hugues Verdier's article, Mutual Recognition in International Finance On Tuesday, Samuel Issacharoff will respond...

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02 Feb

This must be that vibrant democracy Richard Cohen recently extolled in defense of denying democracy to Egyptians: The Knesset House Committee on Wednesday approved the composition of two parliamentary panels to investigate the funding sources of human rights organizations. Most of the opposition parties have decided to boycott the committees. The motion passed at the House Committee by a...

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01 Feb

The stakes just became larger in the ongoing battle over alleged environmental damage in Ecuador. Chevron just filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Steven Donziger and forty-seven lawyers, experts, consultants and named plaintiffs alleging RICO, fraud, tortious interference with contract, trespass and unjust enrichment. The Complaint is available here. The Complaint alleges...

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01 Feb

I realize that Fox has long since given up any pretense of engaging in journalism, but I'm still shocked that it continues to let someone who is so clearly mentally disturbed poison political discourse (and put lives in danger) in the U.S.  Here's his latest gem: BECK: I believe that I can make a case in the end that there are...

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29 Jan

As Bobby Chesney noted at Lawfare a few days ago, the Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR) has issued the following order in al-Bahlul: Upon consideration of the record of trial and pleadings of the parties and amicus curiae, the following issues are specified and oral argument is ordered: I. Assuming that Charges I, II, and III allege underlying ...

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27 Jan

The State Department this week released the 2009 volume of its Digest on U.S. Practice in International Law.  Kudos to Elizabeth Wilcox for continuing the long tradition of making these sorts of materials publicly available; as I've noted previously, I find the whole Digest project--from Moore's seminal series to the current annual volumes--to be an invaluable resource in doing international law...

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25 Jan

I blogged a year ago about the ridiculous criminal-libel suit that an academic named Karin Calvo-Goller filed against NYU's Joseph Weiler.  Today Weiler blogs (no permanent link for some reason) about the trial at EJIL: Talk!. It's a remarkable account that should be read in full.  But here's a taste: Three months later I was summoned to appear before an...

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25 Jan

I've been updating my article advocating for an e-SOS (the first draft is available here).  When I originally wrote it, Stuxnet had been identified as one of the first forms of malware to target SCADA systems explicitly (a SCADA--or “supervisory control and data acquisition”--system is one specifically designed to operate and control infrastructure, such as electrical and nuclear power systems, telecommunications, and oil...

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25 Jan

An important update from NBC News: U.S. military officials tell NBC News that investigators have been unable to make any direct connection between a jailed army private suspected with leaking secret documents and Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. The officials say that while investigators have determined that Manning had allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands...

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17 Jan

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America. ~Langston Hughes (1925) Langston Hughes wrote this just one generation before Martin Luther King. One...

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