[Michael D. Ramsey is a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego Law School and author of “The Constitution’s Text in Foreign Affairs” (Harvard Univ. Press, 2007).] Duncan Hollis and Joshua Newcomer have written a fascinating article on an important and underappreciated topic. I agree with their basic propositions, especially that “political commitments” (as they call non-binding personal pledges...
[This post was jointly authored by Duncan Hollis and Joshua Newcomer] Ed Swaine brings his typical thoughtful (and rigorous) method to our article, and we greatly appreciate his insights, not only for engaging with our ideas but also for suggesting how we might advance them in future scholarship. Since Ed has framed his comments as questions, we’ve endeavored to provide...
I in no way believe that Deb exhibits “virtually pathological level of tribal loyalty and monumental intellectual dishonesty,” and I doubt that Glenn does either. That said, I am not sure that Deb's (clearly initial) thoughts on the Obama administration avoids Glenn's basic critique -- that Obama supporters justify his increasingly Bush-like policies by de-emphasizing substance in favor of personality...
[This post was jointly authored by Duncan Hollis and Joshua Newcomer] We would like to start by expressing our thanks to the editors of the Virginia Journal of International Law, the (other) hosts of Opinio Juris, and especially Professors Edward Swaine and Michael Ramsey for commenting on our article. "Political" Commitments and the Constitution (available on SSRN here) explores the constitutional validity...
(Update: At the end of this post, I put a note from Eugene Kontorovich on his new paper on piracy, apparently still a discussion draft and not yet on SSRN, but apparently available from him if you contact him at Northwestern.) In the midst of so much newspaper op-ed, blogosphere commentary on the piracy issue, Ruth Wedgwood - who has been...
The Virginia Journal of International Law is delighted to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris this week in this online symposium featuring three articles recently published by VJIL in Vol. 49:3, available here. On Wednesday, Professor Duncan B. Hollis of Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law and Joshua J. Newcomer, Clerk for the Honorable Carolyn Dineen King of the...
In his new book Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror, Mahmood Mamdani claims that, "in its present form, the call for justice is really a slogan that masks a big power agenda to recolonize Africa." There is more than a grain of truth to that; I think my friend Tony Anghie's seminal work Imperialism, Sovereignty, and...
This according to the ever-reliable Scott Horton: Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast. Their decision is expected to be announced...
My thanks to Peter for his invaluable comments and to Opinio Juris and the Yale Journal of International Law for making this exchange possible. I am particularly grateful for Peter’s extraordinarily insightful critiques, which I think go a long way toward helping me develop the model that I propose in Protecting Rights Online. Peter’s first critique identifies one of the primary...
Let me begin by thanking Opinio Juris and the Yale International Law Journal for hosting this online symposium. In “Protecting Rights Online,” Professor Molly Beutz Land has written a highly interesting article that seeks to bridge the disciplinary and doctrinal divide between the human rights and access to knowledge (A2K) movements. The article is well-written, accessible and provocative. It has...
Although the human rights and access to knowledge (A2K) movements share many of the same goals, their legal and regulatory agendas in the area of Internet governance have historically had little in common. While state censorship online has been a principal concern for human rights advocates, this issue has not been a central focus of the A2K movement. Likewise, human...
Catherine Powell has an essay at Huffington Post responding to those criticizing Harold Koh for his views on customary international law. She writes: Harold Koh's position that customary international law is a form of federal common law reflects the conventional view since the founding of the nation. For over 200 years, Congress, the courts, and the Executive Branch have recognized that...
