I agree that Alito's international and comparative law record is thin, but in addition to the cases Roger and Julian discuss here and here, let me add US v. Rosero, a 1994 case reversing and remanding a conviction of possession of marijuana, with intent to distribute, on a vessel "subject to the jurisdiction of the United States." The issue before...
Peter Spiro and Dan Bodansky at the University of Georgia Law School are hosting a symposium this weekend to discuss and critique Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner's informative and provocative book, The Limits of International Law. I discussed the book's central thesis -- that international law is merely a reflection of states acting rationally to pursue their interests in relation...
Michael Scharf at Case Western Law School, together with a group of other law professors and professionals with deep knowledge about international war crimes tribunals, has put together a very useful website and blog on the Saddam Hussein trial, aptly named Grotian Moment. It is well worth a visit.Update: Of course, Julian posted this blog endorsement a couple of...
It was announced today that the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director, Mohammed ElBaradei, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005. The Committee cited Baredei and IAEA "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way." They join...
Julian's post below on the bill passed by the Senate today misses a few key points. First, the standards set out in the bill will not apply to all detainees being held by the US, but only to those held by military personnel. This leaves the still troubling question of what the administration's current policy is toward non-military interrogations. (But...
Over at Slate, Julian Mortenson has submitted a series of dispatches from the Slobadan Milosevic trial at the ICTY which offer an up-close-and-personal angle on the 3-plus-years old prosecution of the notorious Serb leader on a series of war crimes charges. International prosecution has an important part to play in accountability for past crimes, for creating a forum for victims...
Ann Althouse has a reasonable view of citation to foreign law in constitutional cases in her op-ed in today's NYTimes. It's easy to agree with someone who shares one's own views....
I am back on the blog and wanted to post this exchange between Roberts and Senator Kyl (R. Ariz.) at today's hearing of Judge Roberts. (For background on the contours of the debate, see Jeff Toobin's New Yorker piece (via Scotusblog) on Justice Kennedy's "cosmopolitanism" and the use of foreign law). KYL: It's an American Constitution, not a European...
The NYTimes carries this article today on the dissolution of the venerable Coudert Brothers, arguably the first truly international law firm. While Coudert managed to maintain some of its prestige, it has been falling farther and farther behind on profits during the last decade or so. Its dissolution comes as no surprise....
Elizabeth Kandravy Cassidy has posted an interesting response to my posting on the relevancy of European developments in gay marriage to the debate in the US. Here is the link back. ...
Let me try to unpack several of the assertions Julian made in his argument that the UN ambassadorship (wait, all ambassadorships!) is “irrelevant.”Does the job of UN ambassador matter? It matters on two levels. First, it matters to the foreign policy making process as much as the President decides it will matter. Over the years, some presidents have made it...
Yesterday's dispatch from Elizabeth reads, in part, like a section of an amicus brief for future constitutional challenges against state laws in the US banning gay marriage -- a section that might be called "European and North American Practices in Protecting the Rights of Same-Sex Couples." It certainly goes a long way to demonstrating that the nations that share our...
