Yale Journal of International Law, Vol. 33-2: Online Symposium

The Yale Journal of International Law (YJIL), one of the world’s leading journals of international and comparative law, is pleased to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris in this second online symposium.  This week, we will be featuring two Articles published by YJIL in Vol. 33-2, both of which are available here.  Thank you to Peggy McGuinness and the other moderators of Opinio Juris for hosting this discussion!

Today, Monica Hakimi (University of Michigan Law School) will discuss her Article, International Standards for Detaining Terrorism Suspects: Moving Beyond the Armed Conflict-Criminal Divide.  Hakimi’s Article examines the question of when and how international law permits a state to detain suspected terrorists away from a theater of combat.  After identifying the shortcomings of the traditional armed conflict and criminal paradigms for understanding states’ detention authorities, Hakimi develops a third model—administrative detention under international human rights law—and identifies the policy considerations that should inform this new system to ensure that it satisfies states’ security needs while also inhibiting states from undertaking unnecessary or abusive detentions.  Matthew Waxman (Columbia Law School) will be the respondent.

On Tuesday, Bret Boyce (University of Detroit Mercy School of Law) will discuss his Article, Obscenity and Community Standards.  Boyce’s Article presents a comparative study of constitutional obscenity doctrine in the United States and Canada and concludes that the “community standards” test—long the touchstone of obscenity jurisprudence—cannot be reconciled with the fundamental principles of freedom of expression and conscience. Ann M. Bartow (University of South Carolina School of Law) will be the respondent.

We hope that you will join us this week for what is sure to be a vigorous and thought-provoking debate!