Search: self-defense
16 Apr Defense Perspectives on Law and Politics in International Criminal Trials: A Reply to Professor Heller
...of defense attorneys made statements such as “judges do not like political arguments” and “such arguments are generally useless.” This suggested to me that they decided not to make political arguments at least in part because they thought the arguments are not likely to be successful. I do agree that these comments do not provide a full explanation why defense attorneys refrain from political arguments, and I offered other explanations of the defense attorneys’ decision to do so –although these explanations were perhaps more tentative than I meant them to...14 Apr Why the Law of War Permits the U.S. to Detain and Try 16-Year-Olds Like Omar Khadr
John C. Dehn I have a question for those who claim national defense might be - in some circumstances - separate from armed conflict need not comply with the laws of war. I think Jordan Paust is in this camp (but do not wish to speak for him). I am uncertain the full extent of Ken Anderson's views on the applicability of IHL to acts of national self defense. The question is this: Can Omar Khadr successfully raise individual self defense or defense of others in response to a charge...
29 Sep British Reparations Owed to the Palestinian People
...implementation of it, invoke the idea of a right of self-determination in international law vested in the inhabitants of the territory. Typically, they associate this, somewhat vaguely, with Wilsonian self-determination and the League of Nations. However, the view of international lawyers is that in this period there was no legal right of external self-determination—the right to be free from colonial rule—for colonial peoples. This came later, in the second half of the 20th Century. Thus, the Palestinian people may have that legal right now, but they did not have it...11 Mar Bradley Book Symposium: David Moore comments on Treaties
over treaty self-execution. Bradley discusses scenarios in which the constitutional separation of powers renders treaties non-self-executing. But at the core of the debate over non-self-execution are differing perspectives on the meaning of the Supremacy Clause. As I have discussed elsewhere, those who favor self-execution point first to the Supremacy Clause in support of their position. Those who see more room for non-self-execution do not find the Supremacy Clause dispositive. The majority in Medellín v. Texas took the latter position, endorsing a broad notion of non-self-execution. The dissent, reling heavily on...
24 Sep Too Little, Too Late? On the Meaning and Consequences of the Recognition of the State of Palestine
...in the OPT, including the Gaza Strip, has now been determined by the Court to be a violation of article 2(4) of the UN Charter, it qualifies as an aggression. One result of this is that the occupation cannot be justified by arguments of self-defence. Under international law, there is no self-defence justification for aggression, full stop. Quite the contrary. If any State enjoys a right of self-defence in this situation it is the State of Palestine, not Israel. Because Palestine enjoys an inherent right of self-defence and is the...25 Apr Lynne Stewart Disbarred
support of terrorism (as opposed to intentionally violating the SAMs, which we all agree Stewart did, including her). Moreover, I find your implication that we should have special, more punitive rules for defense attorneys in terrorism cases downright scary. As to your claim that "no one really thinks Stewart is a good lawyer," Patrick's response says it all. I can only add that I was a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles for a number of years and have spoken personally to more than a dozen highly respected criminal defense...04 Nov The Defense Department Goes Clandestine
Recent news reports indicate that the Defense Department is negotiating with members of Congress over plans to augment its Defense Intelligence Agency with a Defense Clandestine Service with about 500 undercover officers. The previous proposal had called for about 1000 officers in the clandestine service, but that proposal was met with substantial criticism. This is a major development. There are multiple concerns. The first is money — running clandestine operations is not cheap. The second issue is reduplication. The Clandestine Service would be in addition to — and external to...12 Apr The Coming Attack on Syria Will Be Unlawful
...soldiers. The only limitations on Syria’s right of self-defence would be the usual ones: necessity and proportionality. Even more importantly, Russia would also be legally entitled to use force against the US. The right of collective self-defence is guaranteed by Art. 51 of the UN Charter and by customary international law. Just as the US invoked collective self-defence to justify attacking North Vietnam at South Vietnam’s request, Russia could invoke collective self-defence to justify attacking the US at Syria’s request. What is sauce for the American goose is sauce for...08 Aug Has Colombia Self-Referred to the ICC?
...leaders to prosecution as well as Chavez. But, of course, a state can only refer situations to the Court, as the text of Article 14 of the Rome Statute makes inordinately clear. So should the OTP treat the complaint as, in effect, a self-referral of the entire Colombian situation? If it does, can Colombia “un-self-refer” the situation? It seems like it should be able to do so, but we don’t let other self-referring states un-self-refer, no matter how much they might like to. The only difference between, say, Uganda and...
05 Oct AI Partnership for Defense is a Step in the Right Direction – But Will Face Challenges
[Lena Trabucco is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen. She is also a PhD candidate at Northwestern University and the University of Copenhagen.] On September 16, 2020, the US Defense Department (DoD) announced the launch of the AI Partnership for Defense – a multi-national partnership which will “engage military and defense organizations from more than 10 nations with a focus on incorporating ethical principles into the AI delivery pipeline,” according to Secretary Esper. Secretary Esper noted in his announcement: In February, we...