In Part One of this series, I discussed how to decide whether to write a book and offered some thoughts about book contracts. In this post, I want to discuss the calling card that every potential book author needs to obtain a contract -- a good proposal. Bill Schabas can submit a one sentence proposal that says "I want to...
In its motion to dismiss the ACLU/CCR targeted-killing lawsuit, the government claims (p.5) that Al-Aulaqi can be lawfully targeted because Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is "an organized armed group that is either part of al-Qaeda, or is an associated force, or cobelligerent, of al-Qaeda that has directed armed attacks against the United States in the noninternational armed conflict...
[Harold Hongju Koh is the Legal Adviser, United States Department of State; previously he was Martin R. Flug ’55 Professor of International Law and Dean, Yale Law School (2004-09), as well as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (1998–2001). This tribute is adapted from "The Future of Lou Henkin’s Human Rights Movement," Columbia Human Rights Journal...
If passed, the House bill, "Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act" (H.R. 2378) has all the markings of a major trade battle before the WTO. At bottom, the law requires the United States administrative agencies to treat currency manipulation as a subsidy that would be subject to countervailing duties equal to the benefit to exporters conferred by the manipulation. The...
[John Dehn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy. The views expressed in this post are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, U.S. Army, U.S. Military Academy, or any other department or agency of the U.S. government] I agree with Kevin that not every wartime decision...
You can find the brief here. I was going to write about the "political question" section, but Ben Wittes beat me to it. Here is what he says (emphasis mine): Fifth, the groups’ arguments that the case does not present a political question are deeply radical and fascinating. For present purposes, consider only some of the main themes...
Today's announcement that Chinese political dissident Liu Xiaobo has won the Nobel Peace Prize is welcome news. The award is consistent with a longstanding tradition of the Nobel Peace Prize to honor political dissidents. In announcing the prize, the Nobel Committee stated that "The campaign to establish universal human rights also in China is being waged by many...
At Foreign Policy, Bill Egginton, the chair of German and Romance Languages and Literatures at Johns Hopkins -- and more importantly, my best friend -- has a fascinating article on Mario Vargas Llosa, the Peruvian novelist who just won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Here is a snippet: [H]is latest book, El sueño del celta, which will be released on Nov....
A while back I wrote a sort post on the violent political economy of rare earth elements, also known as REE's. A recent Congressional Research Service report (.pdf is here) describes the central (and until recently under-reported) role of REE's in the modern economy and national security infrastructure: Some of the major end uses for rare earth elements include use in automotive...
Obama apologized on Friday for experiments conducted in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948 in which American scientists deliberately infected prison inmates, prostitutes, and mental patients with syphilis without their consent. The apology is a striking reminder that the Nazis were not the only ones that conducted horrific, non-consensual medical experiments on human subjects in the first half of the 20th...
One aspect of Amos’ proposal that I think needs to be emphasized is that he suggests curtailing certain types of speech because of certain hoped-for practical advantages in counter-terrorism. It is, essentially, a utilitarian argument. However, taking his suggestion on its own terms, I am not persuaded that the U.S. undertaking a new policy of curtailing religious speech would in...
In its motion to dismiss the ACLU/CCR lawsuit, the government argues that the plaintiffs lack standing to bring the lawsuit on al-Aulaqi's behalf, because al-Aulaqi has the option of surrendering to the government and bringing the lawsuit himself: Defendants state that if Anwar al-Aulaqi were to surrender or otherwise present himself to the proper authorities in a peaceful and appropriate manner,...
