Search: Kiobel

...exalted the so-called statutory “presumption against extraterritoriality,” a trend the current Court strengthened in its recent Kiobel decision. Justice Blackmun’s compelling dissent skewered the majority, underscoring not only that the text and meaning of the INA and Refugee Convention were simple and crystalline—“Vulnerable refugees shall not be returned”—but also that that object and purpose would be entirely thwarted if those legal obligations did not apply extraterritoriality to protect fleeing refugees. Looking back, Justice Stevens’ decision is most striking for its frank and admirable acknowledgement of the “moral weight “ of...

[Adam N. Steinman is Professor of Law and Michael J. Zimmer Fellow at Seton Hall University School of Law. This contribution is cross-posted at Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog.] Last week the Supreme Court issued its decision in Daimler AG v. Bauman, a case covered earlier here and here and here. In many ways, the case resembles Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, last Term’s decision on the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). The Daimler plaintiffs had brought claims under the ATS against Daimler—a German company headquartered in Stuttgart—for human rights...

...worked so hard to develop it, as if I believed that the entire history of the Statute amounts to little more than a misguided blunder next to the flawless system of corporate criminal accountability for international crimes that was always waiting in plain sight to be deployed. This is far from my position, so I begin by clarifying this misunderstanding in case it has tainted her view of my argument, before addressing some of her more substantive concerns. I am very much for the ATS, before and after Kiobel. My...

...States Supreme Court in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum in 2013”, and despite the cautionary or critical stances on issues of access to justice, pointed out by Gabrielle Holly and Lucas Roorda, Cassel might be right. Not least because this is “the first decision by any superior court in the world directly on this issue.” (McCorquodale) Indeed, it is in its clarification of the applicable standard of duty of care of parent companies in respect to the external stakeholders of their subsidiaries where the main substantive contribution of the Vedanta...

...unilateral humanitarian intervention . Ken followed up on a post by Roger last week on jurisprudence post-Kiobel, by discussing his recent essay on the resurgence of the traditional bases of jurisdiction in the Alien Tort Statute. A guest post by John Dehn also revisited an earlier post, discussing an article by Sarah Cleveland and Bill Dodge on the Offenses Clause. Finally, Jessica provided her weekly news wrap and listed events and announcements , while Julian posted a special announcement on the 2013 International Law Weekend . Many thanks to our...

The US Supreme Court begins its new term today and will hear re-argumentation in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. SCOTUS Blog offers insight into what is at stake and for whom in this case. After 10 years’ imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr was repatriated to Canada, where he will serve the rest of his sentence. At the UN General Assembly, several leaders of the Muslim world questioned the Western notion of freedom of speech in light of the recent film sparking protests and violence across the Middle East. Also...

Much of my work focuses on international sources theory, not exactly the material for a scintillating, timely blogpost, and I initially thought I should probably spare you my thoughts on it. (As a footnote, an early draft of my entry-level job talk paper was titled, “Taking Opinio Juris Seriously.” I understand this had some of the OJ members on hiring committees pretty excited – Vindication! – at least until the read the piece…) But then came the cert. grant in Kiobel, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Sarei v. Rio Tinto...

...executed Edgar Tamayo, a Mexican national, earlier this week; Roger posed the question about whether the presumption against extraterritoriality only apply to the alien tort statute or also to the underlying federal common law claims in the Kiobel decision and Kevin gave us his new e-mail address as he transitions to SOAS in London. Additionally we’ve featured stellar guest posts: one from Chantal Meloni, analyzing the latest communication to the International Criminal Court about allegations of torture carried out by UK forces against Iraqi detainees from 2004-2008; a piece from...

...Court of Justice against Chile to regain access to the Pacific Coast it lost in a 1904 Treaty concluded after the War of the Pacific of the 1880s. Eric Posner has a column on Kiobel over at Slate. Eager not to be left at a competitive disadvantage after the EU lifted economic sanctions earlier this week, the acting USTR is travelling to Myanmar to discuss a framework agreement on trade and investment. The UK has signed a mutual legal assistance agreement with Jordan, which, according to the Home Secretary, includes...

We have invited several academic luminaries to post here at Opinio Juris over the next few days about the ongoing situation in Syria. We also are going to follow in our own footsteps from our Kiobel symposium, by inviting young academics and practitioners to submit guests posts for possible publication. We can’t guarantee we will publish every post submitted, but we would love to broaden the discussion to include new and emerging voices. So if you want to write a guest post for Opinio Juris about Syria of approximately 500...

[Anthony J. Colangelo is an Assistant Professor of Law at SMU Dedman School of Law] I summarized in a previous post my arguments that the presumption against extraterritoriality should not apply to the ATS to the extent courts use international law incorporated into U.S. common law as the rule of decision. The presumption was raised explicitly by the brief of the UK and Dutch Governments in Kiobel and will likely be raised again. This post addresses three discrete but related issues that may arise going forward: 1. Whether the ATS’s...

...South China Sea support China’s broader claims using the nine dash line . Chris pointed out that Geoff Corn, Laurie Blank, Christopher Jenks, and Eric Talbot Jensen have published their full length article on the question of whether a “least harmful means” rule exists in the Law of Armed Conflict. He also posted about the approaching deadline for AJIL‘s Agora on “Transnational Human Rights Litigation after Kiobel“. Other events and announcements can be found here. Finally, you can find our roundups of the daily news here. Have a nice weekend!...