I have a guest post up over at IntLawGrrls, discussing my recent symposium essay on Medellin. The post is here (with thanks to Diane Amann) and the essay is up on SSRN here. Here's the precis: Analysis of Medellín is likely to fall into one of the three narratives to have emerged from the arguments of the parties, the...
For the first time, a truth and reconciliation commission has picked up stakes and moved to a foreign country to take public testimony: The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission began its first extraterritorial session in St. Paul Minnesota this week. The Star Tribune has the full story here. One remarkable aspect of the story is the size of the...
There is nothing wrong with spending a few days in SoCal in January! CALL FOR PAPERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS SECTION ON INTERNATIONAL LAW San Diego, California January 9, 2009 PROGRAM TOPIC: Taking International Law Seriously: Will the United States Abide by International Law that is a Law of Rules? PROGRAM SUMMARY: For the world at large, the rule of law is a law of rules....
The Root over at Slate ran this piece on Monday about fistula and its devastating impact on the lives and health of women in the developing world: How can it be, in this day and age, that 500,000 women a year die in childbirth? But it's true. The World Health Organization estimates that 1,600 women die every day from...
In his January 2002 comments to then-White House Chief of Staff Gonzales on the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to detainees captured in Afghanistan, Colin Powell warned of the foreign policy consequences of abandoning long-accepted Geneva Convention practices, including: It will reverse over a century of U.S. policy and practice in supporting the Geneva conventions and undermine the protections of the...
Simon Chesterman of NYU passed along the following summary and link to the report prepared by NYU Law School's Institute for International Law and Justice in collaboration with the Austrian Government titled, "The UN Security Council and the Rule of Law: The Role of the Security Council in Strengthening a Rule-based International System." It looks to be a useful contribution...
The American Society of International Law has recently begun partnering with journalism schools in an effort to introduce international law to future reporters and editorial boards. And, publications like ASIL Insightsand IL.Post are circulated broadly among media outlets, and ASIL makes the expertise of its membership available when issues or cases arise in which explanations of the law can be...
As the early analysis starts to pour in on the Supreme Court's Medellin opinion, I did a quick scan of the headlines. As I have argued here and here, the case is, at bottom, about the persistence of the death penalty in the U.S. and the efforts of close allies and neighbors of the U.S. to do something about...
Finally, an answer to the question "Who DOES answer the phone at the White House at 3:00 am?" A funny take on how automatic phone trees can defeat global terrorism. Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan. ...
Peter Spiro, who is not only our friend and colleague at Opinio Juris but ranks as one of the most-cited scholars of his generation, has a new book out: Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008). We will be hosting a full discussion of the book later this spring, but in the meantime you can...
The fun continues at Opinio Juris next week, February 11-14, as we host an online discussion of Professor Andrew Guzman's book, How International Law Works, which has just been published by Oxford University Press. Professor Guzman teaches at UC-Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, where he directs the International Legal Studies Program. Guzman is a prolific scholar and...
Human rights reporting season is upon us, and HRW is first out of the blocks with their annual report. This year's report highlights the disconnect between elections, democracy and human rights. Here's an excerpt from the press release:States claiming the mantle of democracy, including Kenya and Pakistan, should guarantee the human rights that are central to it, including the...
