Just a day after the U.S. and other Western states expressed concern about the possibility of Sudan chairing the African Union, the AU elected Congo to the chair for a year. (See Julian's post.) The compromise allows Sudan to take the chair next year, which doesn't solve the problem, but at least kicks the can down the road for a...
Speaking of war crimes trials, according to press reports, Ra'uf Rashid Abdul Rahman, a judge on the Iraqi Special Tribunal, will be elevated to Chief Judge to replace Rizgar Muhammad Amin, who submitted his resignation from the court a week ago. Last week the Iraq government announced that Amin would be replaced by Said al-Hammash, another judge on the tribunal....
Yesterday's NYTimes ran this piece about the recently released minutes of Winston Churchill's wartime cabinet meetings. Here are the notes about Churchill's reluctance to try Nazi war criminals and his preference for execution without trial:As early as July 6, 1942, Churchill was clear about what to do with Hitler. If Hitler falls into our hands we shall certainly put him...
Opinio Juris welcomes "Truth on the Market" to the law prof blogosphere. My friend and colleague Thom Lambert, along with Geoff Manne, Bill Sjostrom, Keith Sharfman, Josh Wright, and one anonymous blogger, will be blogging about "law, business, economics and more." We wish them a successful launch and happy blogging!...
The Washington Post notes today that General Michael Miller, a former commander at the Guantanamo detention center who also assisted in setting up the center at Abu Ghraib, has invoked his right against self-incrimination and refused to give testimony in one of the military trials against a lower ranking soldier accused of abuse at Abu Ghraib:Harvey Volzer, an attorney for...
Over at Slate, Julian Mortenson, who served as a legal officer at the ICTY, is reporting this week on life at the ICTY prison in the Hague. It's a fascinating read, particularly his description of the the way in which prisoners of different ethnic groups who are accused of commiting genocide and war crimes against one another's groups have...
There is a bit more on foreign and international sources at today's hearings. This from the SCOTUSBlog live blog:10.43 Coburn says that reference to foreign law undermines democracy and a violation of the Constitution. He thinks its use violates the "good behavior" qualification for judges.10.41 Alito doesn't think foreign law is relevant either. The framers would be "stunned" to know...
SCOTUSBlog's live blogging from the Alito hearings includes this exchange between Senator Kyl and Judge Alito on the appropriateness of foreign and international law in U.S. jurisprudence:12:58: Sen. Kyl asks when it is appropriate to focus on foreign law. Alito says it is not helpful to interpret the constitution. The structure of our government is unique to our country. As...
Our friends over at PrawfsBlawg and Concurring Opinions are co-hosting a law prof blog happy hour at Cloud, 1 Dupont Circle NW (New Hampshire Ave, south of the circle). I'll be flying the flag for Opinio Juris and want to extend an invitation to any OJ readers and friends of readers to stop by and say hello. There may even...
Marty Lederman has posted this discussion at Balkinization of what the President Bush's signing statement to the final defense appropriations bill that includes the Graham (stripping jurisdiction of federal courts to hear habeas challenges brought by alien enemy combatants) and McCain amendments (outlawing use of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment on detainees by US personnel) will mean and the coming...
The Economist (subs req'd) recently ran this article about the effect of anti-Americanism on the European sales of American-based brands. An empirical examination by political scientists Peter Katzenstein (Cornell) and Bob Koehane (Princeton) reveals that far from suffering ill effects of anti-Americanism following the US invasion of Iraq, US-based brands are prospering in Europe. Indeed, the actual sales reflect a...
The ACLU announced yesterday that it has filed a petition against the United States at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Jessica Gonzales, a Colorado woman and victim of domestic violence. She lost her claim in US federal courts, which she argued all the way to the US Supreme Court, that the failure of local police to...
