Search: extraterritorial sanctions
27 Mar The ATS and Extraterritoriality, Part II: Universal Civil Jurisdiction and Choice of Law
[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...10 May Is This the Model of a Viable Post-Kiobel ATS Lawsuit?
...beatings; sleep deprivation; sensory deprivation; forced nudity; stress positions; sexual assault; mock executions; humiliation; hooding; isolated detention; and prolonged hanging from the limbs. All of the Plaintiffs are innocent Iraqis who were ultimately released without ever being charged with a crime. They all continue to suffer from physical and mental injuries caused by the torture and other abuse. CCR makes a strong argument in the relevant brief that Al Shimari is precisely the rare ATS lawsuit that can survive Kiobel. First, CCR argues that Kiobel‘s presumption against extraterritorial application of...
28 Jul Transnational ne bis in idem for Corporate Involvement in International Crimes: The Lafarge Proceedings in the U.S. and France
...court would be based on extra-territorial jurisdiction. In the event that the ambit of the constitutive facts is understood in this way, not extending to the activities of the Lafarge corporation and its executives initiated in France, this leave open the possibility that defendants would argue for ne bis in idem on those charges. Alternatively, a French court might consider that its jurisdiction over crimes against humanity is inherently extraterritorial and therefore those charges can be subject to the transnational ne bis in idem principle. This could be the case...
28 Oct Fourth Annual Symposium on Pop Culture and International Law: Jurisdiction in Star Wars Andor – TWAIL Perspectives and Current Lessons . . . for a galaxy NOT so far away . . .
[Ernesto Hernández-López , is a Professor of Law at the Dale E. Fowler School of Law, Chapman University, in California, United States. He writes about international trade, extraterritoriality, and law and culture. @ProfeErnesto1] The Star Wars universe takes place “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…,” as it says in the opening screen of the movies. Since they began, the films use international law to emphasize conflict. The first released movie, A New Hope (1977), starts with a captain screaming we are “a consular ship” “on a diplomatic mission,” as he...28 Mar The “American Tort” Interpretation of the Alien Tort Statute
...district courts for money damages in the event of harm to their persons or property when the United States had expressly or implicitly promised the aliens that no such harm would come to them. The ATS both provides a right of action and original jurisdiction in federal district court to aliens injured under circumstances implicating U.S. sovereign responsibility; it is therefore a federal law for purposes of Article III arising-under jurisdiction. Translated to a modern context, the ATS would plausibly be available to “extraterritorial” tort actions by alien detainees at...15 Mar YLS Sale Symposium: Sale’s Legacy– “Creative Legal Thinking” and Dynamic Interpretation of Refugee Law
...could hardly have been foreseen when the 1951 Refugee Convention was drafted. The US interdiction program in the 1990s constitutes a prime example. By geographically shifting migration control to block Haitian refugees on the high seas, it was argued that neither US nor international law applied. The majority of the Supreme Court in Sale not only upheld the government’s claim, it set off a proliferation of extraterritorial migration control practices. High sea interdiction programmes have since been introduced both in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. Migration control has further become...01 Dec Milanovic Book Symposium
Opinio Juris and EJIL: Talk! are happy to announce that over the next few days we will both be hosting a discussion of Marko Milanovic’s recently published book: Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties: Law, Principles and Policy (Oxford Univ Press). Marko’s book examines the question when a State owes human rights obligations under a treaty to persons located outside its territory. This is a question on which there has been conflicting case law and much confusion. This [book] attempts to clear up some of this confusion, and expose its...28 Jul Preliminary thoughts on the posts
...sovereignty as much as a necessary feature of sovereignty—something inherent in the Westphalian system. Bill’s second point builds on his own expertise on statutory extraterritoriality, and I certainly defer to him on the particulars here. He thinks I overstate the motivating role of leveling the playing field for American firms, and slight both the role of consumers and the ways that extraterritorial application sometimes harmed American firms, as in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I agree that leveling was not the only factor. I also agree that the FCPA is...23 Apr Kiobel Insta-Symposium: Piracy – Not Just Kiobel’s Analogy
short of authorizing the prosecution of acts of piracy or armed robbery in Somalia’s territorial waters. Notwithstanding these provisos, the interest in preventing “unintended clashes between our laws and those of other nations which could result in international discord” (Morrison) that lies at the heart of the presumption against extraterritoriality, is greatly diminished in these piracy cases. Justice Kennedy notes in his concurrence in Kiobel that in disputes not involving solely extraterritorial conduct, “the proper implementation of the presumption against extraterritorial application may require some further elaboration and explanation.” Although...18 Apr Kiobel Insta-Symposium: What Remains of the ATS?
...extraterritoriality, the statute itself “would need to evince a ‘clear indication of extraterritoriality” . . . and surely it’s difficult to read the language of the ATS to draw the sorts of distinctions that would “displace” the presumption in such categories of cases. Moreover, the Court at several places indicates that the question it is addressing is whether causes of action can be brought “for violations of the law of nations occurring abroad.” To be sure, a future court could certainly point to such passages in the Kiobel opinion as...