Search: extraterritorial sanctions
05 Oct New Article on Reid v. Covert, and My Question re Extraterritoriality and the Constitution
...which it is not really dead-on, however, though sometimes referenced in relation to it. Reid is the question of the extraterritorial application of the US Constitution, and whether a civilian US citizen lawfully present on a US military base in time of peace, with a SOFA in operation (ie, 1950s Germany), is entitled to a regular US civilian trial with all Constitutional protections in a capital murder case rather than trial in military court under the UCMJ – answer, yes. But, if that’s Reid, what about a US citizen who...02 Jun Case of the Month: United States v. Juvenile Male 1
...documents and the court granted the juvenile’s application for subpoenas duces tecum. But the Navajo nation refused to provide the documents. Why? Navajo lawyers argued that the subpoena would be ignored because “the Navajo Nation is a separate sovereign nation, and as a matter of public policy, foreign subpoenas issued from neighboring sovereigns are not honored.” Instead of complying with this foreign order the juvenile should follow a “routine procedure for domestication of extra-territorial subpoenas through the Navajo Nation courts.” The court granted a second motion to compel, but the...13 Sep Al-Bahlul, Conspiracy and the Subject Matter Jurisdiction of Military Commissions
...any other way contribute to the commission or attempted commission” of a war crime. Article 25(d) (emphasis mine). For these reasons, there appears to be an open question regarding whether international law permits the use of the other domestic modes of inchoate criminal liability to punish non-nationals for extraterritorial violations of the law of war. Exploring this rather complex issue requires retracing the origins of law of war violations and their punishment. States have punished law of war violations by adversaries and their sympathizers since long before there were international...
25 Jun Business and Human Rights Symposium: Rejecting Jurisdiction to Avoid Imperialism– That Simple?
...to either ignore or downplay that it is people from host states who file extraterritorial complaints in home states and that host states are typically either indifferent or actively supporting claimants. Instead, home states often support the companies incorporated within their territories operating abroad through several means. This includes signing investment and trade agreements aimed at protecting home states corporations from foreign laws and courts (See e.g. Sornarajah) or filing amicus curiae in support of home states’ corporations (See e.g. the Netherlands and UK amicus curiae in Kiobel). Therefore, to...17 Apr The Concurrence That Leaves the Candle Flickering for ATS Supporters
It is worth noting that Justice Kennedy offered a very short concurrence. Here is the complete text of his concurrence, which should hearten ATS supporters that there is some room for future extraterritorial ATS cases (a very small room, I guess). The opinion for the Court is careful to leave open a number of significant questions regarding the reach and interpretation of the Alien Tort Statute. In my view that is a proper disposition. Many serious concerns with respect to human rights abuses committed abroad have been addressed by Congress...
12 Apr Unfolding Haiti’s Garment Industry: Decades of Unaccountable Foreign Interference
...those whose lives it claims to improve. Nor does it comply with international law. Foreign investment is subject to states’ international legal obligations. States – including the U.S. – have extraterritorial obligations that require them to respect and protect economic, social and cultural rights abroad and to take “joint and separate action” to achieve respect for, and observance of, universal human rights. The latter obligation is widely understood to confer on states, particularly those in the global north, a duty to ensure that international assistance is provided in accordance with...
04 Feb ICC and Palestine Symposium: Mind the Gap– The ‘Palestine Situation’ before the ICC
...acquiesce lightly to the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Israeli military and civilian courts in the West Bank. Against the backdrop of the current Israeli administration’s intention to annex large swathes of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the de facto exercise of Israel’s extraterritorial jurisdiction is gradually absorbing Palestinian land within the Israeli state; if this remains unchallenged, the process of conquest through an expansion of jurisdiction could become irreversible, clearly contravening international law. Taking the example of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine (which are a “flagrant violation under international...26 Mar Kiobel (II): Universality, Not Mere Extraterritoriality
was too “deficient and vague” to be a common law rule. Lower courts have discussed the application of the Alien Tort Statute to so-called “foreign cubed” cases – where the parties are foreigners and the conduct takes place abroad – as a matter of extraterritoriality, a term that suggests the presumption of statutory construction against extraterritorial application. While there is a presumption against extraterritoriality, the application of U.S. law to conduct abroad is not uncommon. Yet even the most controversial or aggressive use of extraterritoriality typically involves the regulation of...23 Apr Kiobel Insta-Symposium:The Pyrrhic Victory of the Bush Administration Position in Kiobel
...Bellinger over at Lawfare can rightly claim credit for keeping the extraterritoriality issue before the Supreme Court in Kiobel. Indeed, the Supreme Court’s conclusion that “principles underlying” the presumption against extraterritoriality apply to claims under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) represents a victory for the Bush Administration’s legal position in ATS cases, an administration John served with distinction. That Bush Administration legal position, however, marked a sharp break with past positions of the United States Government regarding extraterritorial application of the ATS. In 1980, the Carter Administration argued in Filartiga...22 Jun How to Jump Start Enforcement of Anti-Bribery Laws
...U.S. stock exchange. That is a very large category of foreign corporations. The United States can also go after foreign corporations if there is some territorial nexus. The DOJ and the SEC take an expansive interpretation of territoriality, such that the payment of a bribe through a U.S. correspondent bank or the sending of an email sent through a U.S.-based email account is considered a sufficient territorial nexus to permit prosecutions of foreign companies for bribing foreign officials on foreign soil. So precisely how does the extraterritorial application of U.S....