Search: crossing lines
20 Sep Adult Conversation on the Emergency Constitution
...their resolution are ultimately more about politics than law (in the current episode, low politics rather than high, lacking the attributes of “adult conversation” — Levinson’s term — that has accompanied historical analogues). Kevin offers up the survival rule as the more analytic measure of extra-constitutional action; Paulsen works from the same sort of premise, though on a much less exacting basis, drawing straight lines between the Emancipation Proclamation and the Bush Administration’s terrorist detention policies by way of legitimizing the latter. The exchange between Paulsen on the one hand...
29 Jul Starved into Submission: Siege Doctrine from Syria to Mariupol (Part 2)
...in Syria. The assault began with critical infrastructure. Within days of the invasion on 24 February, pro-Russian forces struck power lines, blacking out half the city, and within a week had destroyed all 15 electricity entry points into Mariupol. By 2 March, internet connectivity had collapsed to seven per cent of its pre-war level. With power and communications severed, civilians lost heat, light, and any ability to learn where food, water, or safe shelter might be found. Residents drained defunct heating systems and melted snow for drinking water. The last...02 Aug Events and Announcements: 2 August 2026
...send an email to gabriellezoemarceau@gmail.com, ana.balcazar@graduateinstitute.ch, and andre-philippe.ouellet@graduateinstitute.ch before 10 August. Please explain your background in a few lines and the idea you would like to bring forward. Job – Research Associate in International and European Law, Behavioural Science, and Sustainable Development: The Institute of Law and Economics at the University of Hamburg, Germany is seeking to fill two Research Associate positions, offering the opportunity to pursue a doctoral dissertation within an interdisciplinary team led by Prof. Dr. Eva van der Zee LL.M. The research focuses on international and European...05 Jan Firm Whites and Runny Yolks in WTO Law
[Tomer Broude is a Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law and Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the following post continues our conversation on Shaffer and Pollack’s When Cooperation Fails] Mark Pollack and Greg Shaffer well deserve the praise that the previous commentators have given them for their study of the transatlantic law and politics of GMOs, “When Cooperation Fails”. Empirically, the book is a model of qualitative research, in some parts following the lines of Greg’s superb Defending Interests. The theoretical dimensions of the book masterfully...21 Jul A Few Thoughts on Immigration Reform (R.I.P.)
The chance for major immigration reform during this session of Congress has apparently passed, according to this Reuters item here and an editorial in yesterday’s Times. Although I teach and write in immigration law, I have found this year’s high-profile debate on the subject pretty unedifying. This is in part because it has been mostly about politics rather than law. The politics may be unpredictable, with positions that cut deeply across party lines, but they are also enveloped in unreality – the unreality of controlling immigration. As Tamar Jacoby (a...05 Apr Did the Soviet Union Commit Genocide in Ukraine (And Can Law Help Answer This Question)??
Russia’s lower house of Parliament has passed a resolution denying that the Soviet Union committed “genocide” in Ukraine during the 1930s. The resolution states: “There is no historical proof that the famine was organized along ethnic lines. Its victims were million of citizens of the Soviet Union, representing different peoples and nationalities living largely in agricultural areas of the country.” Interestingly, the resolution does not appear to deny (as it could not credibly do anyway) that the Soviet Union leadership was responsible for a great famine in the 1930s Ukraine...
15 Sep The Illusion of Reciprocity in the History of International Law: Conquest and Civilisation in Johnson’s Lessee v. M’Intosh
...It is evident, from these lines, that Marshall (and the rest of the Court) were caught in the middle of an extremely delicate situation. A situation in which they justify the legal title acquired with conquest and, at the same time, recognise conquest as an inevitable fact which (even if they wanted) they would have had no competence to declare illegitimate. Taking into account the role of the Supreme Court in shaping US history, a different ruling could have had the potential to undermine the legal validity not only of...
20 Aug Muddying the Waters Still Further: A Response to Steven Kay and Joshua Kern
...of the claim that there was a breach of Article 2(4) is underscored by the fact that units of the Arab Legion were stationed in mandate Palestine (west of the Jordan River) under British command and guarding British supply lines as Britain withdrew in May 1948. The fusion of Jordanian and Palestinian sovereignty I stand by my claim that the Jordanian Act of Union of 1950 fused Jordanian and Palestinian sovereignty between 1950 and 1988. However, Kay and Kern claim that “given that Jordan’s occupation arose from a breach of...