Search: self-defense
01 Sep Syria Insta-Symposium: Marty Lederman Part I–The Constitution, the Charter, and Their Intersection
...which self-defense and protection of U.S. nationals have been the most commonly invoked; and (ii) the operation cannot be anticipated to be “sufficiently extensive in ‘nature, scope, and duration’ to constitute a ‘war’ requiring prior specific congressional approval under the Declaration of War Clause,” a standard that generally will be satisfied “only by prolonged and substantial military engagements, typically involving exposure of U.S. military personnel to significant risk over a substantial period” (quoting from the Libya opinion). Largely for reasons explained by my colleague and Dean, Bill Treanor, I am...26 Apr The Disappointing — If Predictable — CFR Report on the ICC Review Conference
...merely listing acts that might constitute aggression without defining when those acts are unlawful. The definition does not address how claims of self-defense or humanitarian necessity affect the categorization of the use of force as aggression. This is another profoundly misleading statement. The proposed definition does, of course, permit states to use armed force in self-defense — it specifically limits “acts of aggression” to acts that constitute “a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations,” and Article 51 of the Charter specifically provides that states have the right...07 Sep When Will This Administration Acknowledge the Reality of International Law?
...an understanding that the failure to provide legal justification for any controversial action is a good way to lay the groundwork for public rejection. (To take one historical example, President Nixon’s failure to supply a legal justification for the bombing of Cambodia surely contributed to widespread condemnation of the decision notwithstanding a tenable self-defense claim.) But that’s all about domestic legality. Bush continues to refuse to bow down before the altar of international law. I count six instances in the speech of the phrase “our laws.” There is one mention...08 Feb Why I Disagree with Marty Lederman About Prosecuting Waterboarders
...the relevant law. Any other interpretation of the defense — most relevantly, that relying on an official statement made by the appropriate public officer or body is per se reasonable — renders the word “reasonable” completely superfluous. Reliance itself would be enough to invoke the defense. Differently put, the reasonableness requirement in entrapment by estoppel only makes sense if we leave open the possibility — however slight — that reliance on official advice can be unreasonable no matter how authoritative the public officer or body that issues it. Lederman, however,...02 Jun Case of the Month: United States v. Juvenile Male 1
...deny the power of Congress to legislate over Indian affairs or to curtail the scope of Indian self-government. But the Court declared that Congress had not done so in any clear fashion and thus found no congressional intent to limit Indian self-government. The Court stated that the tribes retained their right of "self-government [and] the maintenance of order and peace among their own members." Unless this power is limited by explicit legislation or surrendered by the tribe, Indian tribes retain exclusive judicial jurisdiction over reservation Indian affairs. Thus today most...
26 Feb The Pentagon/Anthropic Clash Over Military AI Guardrails
...immediate and immense subcontracting problems for any defense contractors relying on Claude, including Amazon Web Services, Palantir and Anduril, and could potentially, de facto, force the company out of the defense tech ecosystem. This would have repercussions not only in the US context, but also internationally as, for example, a number of European states, such as the UK, have large-scale contracts with these companies. Defense officials, including Secretary Pete Hegseth, have framed Anthropic’s safety conditions as operationally unrealistic. Military operations, they argue, unfold in grey zones. Therefore, DoD claims it...06 Jun Resurrecting the Clean Hands Doctrine and Mapping its History at the ICJ
...this stage. Then, the ICJ opined that it has treated the clean hands doctrine as a defense of merits with “utmost caution”. More importantly, the ICJ then analyzed the conditions where the clean hands doctrine could be applicable, as argued by the US in their counter-memorial. It is critical that we pause here first. This is the first time that the ICJ has delved into a substantial analysis of the clean hands doctrine as a defense on merits, and has taken into account the various considerations that attract its application....24 Jan Appellate Jurisdiction Over Political Questions
...one person alone but from the rule of law itself. There are only two conditions in which a war is legal under international law: when force is authorized by the United Nations Security Council or when the use of force is an act of national self-defense and survival. The U.N. Charter, based on the Nuremberg Principles, prohibits war "as an instrument of policy." And the war in Iraq is just that — a war of choice. There is a common tendency among lawyers and military commanders to sneer at international...23 Apr Want to Prosecute the Lawyers? Cite Ministries — Not the Justice Case
...limits. [This is a tangent; feel free to ignore it.] Peter Orlowicz Don't affirmative defenses like self-defense or duress act to defeat criminal liability even when the mens rea for a given offense is present? Perhaps we don't want to extend those affirmative defenses for torture in particular, but to say "it is a basic principle of criminal law that the motive behind a crime is irrelevant to the defendant’s guilt" seems to oversimplify. B. Don Taylor III "...to say “it is a basic principle of criminal law that the...25 Feb Drones as Strategic Airpower and the Light Cavalry?
...piece from me next week arguing something I’ve developed at Volokh Conspiracy and here at OJ blog: first, that the administration’s lawyers need to step up to the plate and defend targeted killing using Predators and, second, the proper legal basis on which to defend it to the full extent undertaken by the Obama administration is the international law of self-defense, rather than simply the law of armed conflict, targeting combatants. In another piece coming soon (this one a book chapter in a Hoover Institution online collection of essays from...