Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
15 Nov The Preventive Detention Debate Under the Democrats
of certain rights to terrorist suspects that are nonnegotiable in a civilian context. While public opinion data is nuanced, the Bush administration’s supposed menace to civil liberties and human rights has not had traction as an electoral issue; to the contrary, its opponents in Congress have feared electoral retribution for hampering the fight. For prevailing opinion in the academy, the press, and the human rights world, however, the standards of international humanitarian law represent moral absolutes, the administration’s flexible approach to them an affront to the rule of law, and...07 Sep From Scandal to Reform at the U.N.
...posted some observations on what private lawyers can bring to public international law. Here is another example. If there’s one thing that private attorneys have been grappling with in recent years (especially in the U.S., which takes financial transparency particularly seriously), it is the elucidation of best practices for financial accounting, disclosures, and decision-making. Some of the insights we have gained due to recent corporate scandals can be put to use in the service of building better international organizations. The U.N. will only be as good as we make it....
21 May Transparency, Accountability and Legitimacy—Chatham House Report on Military Drones in Europe, Part II
to promote compliance with international humanitarian law through its relations with the rest of the world’ based on the obligations set forth in Article 3(5) of the Treaty on the European Union, which stipulates the values upon which the EU is founded (principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law). ’ The Chatham House paper outlines the many benefits of accountability to multiple stakeholders. The Sweet Spot: Legitimacy at the Intersection of Transparency, Accountability and the Rule of Law Many of the...
21 May Transparency, Accountability and Legitimacy—Chatham House Report on Military Drones in Europe, Part I
the role of these countries in unlawful drone strikes. Under Article 16 of the International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility, a state can be found internationally responsible for aiding or assisting another state in the commission of an internationally wrongful act if (a) it does so with knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act; and (b) the act would be internationally wrongful if committed by that state (see further analysis here). Article 16 is an important additional obligation that attaches ancillary responsibility to those that aid or...08 Jul Foreign Official Immunity: Wuerth Responds to Bradley, Helfer, and Stewart
courts resolve them may have a significant impact on the development of international law and on U.S. foreign relations. In my view, there is an important role for the executive branch in some immunity cases. Deference is appropriate regarding the prerequisites for status-based immunity, the development of customary international law, some questions of fact and law on which the government has particular expertise, and perhaps even the outcome of individual cases under exceptional circumstances. Professor Stewart says that I afford “at best a very limited” role for the executive, but...06 Nov A Response to Katherine Stone
I would like to thank Kathy Stone for commenting on my Article and agreeing to participate in this symposium. She has sharply characterized the main arguments of my paper and made two very helpful criticisms. Both of these are great prods for future work. Let me respond to each of these suggestions in turn. Stone is right that I devoted most of my attention analyzing Doing Business’ main agenda, which I called substantive flexibility: increasing employers’ ability to fire, hire, and set working conditions, thereby decreasing employers overall labor costs....07 Jul Foreign Officials Immunity: The Judicialization of Immunity Decisions?
...as the functionality of this procedure, in which the Department of State makes the decision and the court accepts it as binding. Locating the issue within the general framework of foreign relations law, she criticizes the linked assertions that the President has “lawmaking power” and that the Department of State can “control” determinations of foreign official immunity, arguing that the constitutional basis for such assertions is at best tenuous. Instead, she argues for the judicialization of immunity decisions, resting on federal common law, with at best a very limited role...07 Jul Foreign Officials Immunity: Implications for Human Rights Litigation
(CIL) confers immunity on foreign officials from lawsuits alleging human rights violations. Instead, the Justices instructed U.S. courts to determine the immunity of foreign officials under the “common law”—the legal regime that prevailed prior to the FSIA’s adoption. Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s inattention to the international law backdrop to the Samantar case, I fully agree with Professor Wuerth that CIL is relevant to how U.S. courts should develop the common law of foreign official immunity. I also agree that a return to the pre-FSIA immunity regime should not be understood...
14 Feb Justice Prevails over Realpolitik at Koblenz: International Law offers a Rare Glimmer of Hope after a Decade of Disappointments for Syrians
[ Dr Caroline Sweeney is a lecturer in International Human Rights Law with a particular research interest in the intersection between international law and international politics in Syria. She has published on accountability for international crimes committed in Syria since 2011.] On 13 January 2022, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany convicted Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian intelligence officer, of the crimes against humanity of killing, torture, severe deprivation of liberty, rape and sexual assault, in combination with 27 counts of murder, 25 counts of dangerous bodily injury, particularly...24 Dec Presidential Wiretapping – Not Such an Easy Legal Question
...enemies, than that is a plain violation and probably an impeachable offense. But there is nothing like that even alleged so far. The functional problem, though, is how to interpret and cabin the AUMF to keep it from being a blank check to the President. I agree this is a problem, although not an insurmountable one. Congress can obviously amend the AUMF or even withdraw it. It can amend the FISA to plainly prohibit the President’s activities here. I just don’t think Congress has spoken plainly here (whatever Tom Daschle...