Marc Ambinder over at the Atlantic has posted his interview with Professor Glenn Sulmasy, whose new book The National Security Court System: A Natural Evolution of Justice in an Age of Terror has just been published by OUP. Ambinder summarizes the central arguments and proposals of Sulmasy's book: Sulmasy expands on what he calls a "hybrid" approach to the quandary of...
Opinio Juris is pleased to be hosting over the next three days a discussion of Professor Kal Raustiala's new book, "Does the Constitution Follow the Flag? The Evolution of Territoriality in American Law" (OUP 2009). Professor Raustiala is a professor of law at UCLA and also director of the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations. He...
John Bellinger, who served as the Bush administration Legal Advisor to the State Department (in which capacity he famously guest blogged at Opinio Juris!), has an op-ed in today's last Saturday's NY Times calling for legislation to override the Supreme Court's decision in Medellin v. Texas and to give effect to the ICJ's 2003 decision in Avena. The legislation...
We extend a warm welcome to Professor Greg Gordon of the University of North Dakota Law School, who will be guest blogging with us over the next two weeks. Professor Gordon specializes in international criminal law, and brings a wealth of actual experience as a war crimes prosecutor at the ICTR and the U.S. Department of Justice to his...
Related to Ken's earlier post, Amos Guiora has a piece up at Foreign Policy describing the legal analysis he applied when advising the Israeli Defense Forces on targeted killings of terrorists. He argues that international law permits targeted killing when certain conditions are met: The decision to use targeted killing of terrorists is based on an expansive articulation of the concept...
As Ken notes below in his birthday greetings, Opinio Juris is pleased to welcome back Professor Eugene Kontorovich, of Northwestern University Law School, as a guest blogger for the next week. Professor Kontorovich has done a lot of writing and thinking about legal and policy responses to piracy as well as a range of other private and public international law...
Bridget Crawford of Pace Law School and the Feminist Law Profs blog passes along the following call for papers for an upcoming symposium focused on comparative constitutional approaches to national security: Pace International Law Review 2009-2010 Symposium Call for Submissions Pace International Law Review is planning a symposium entitled Comparative Constitutional Law: National Security Across the Globe to be held in November of...
Former guest blogger, Elizabeth Cassidy, passes along the following fellowship announcement from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). This is a one-year funded fellowship, perfect for those who research religious freedom under international law and who might, in the future, be looking to join the academy: USCIRF Announces 2009 Crapa Fellowship Program WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on...
In the category of happy news that is long overdue, it looks like Secretary Clinton is poised to expand the definition of State Department employee "family members" eligible for benefits to include same-sex domestic partners. For Foreign Service employees those benefits will include --perhaps most important -- the issuance of a diplomatic passport (the "black passport"), which carries with it...
The news (not yet officially announced) that former President Bill Clinton will be named a Special Representative of the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to Haiti is surely unprecedented. While ex-presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers have been called on in the past to serve as special envoys of the SecGen, I cannot recall an instance where the spouse of a...
I apologize for the late posting of this -- the deadline for applicants is TOMORROW, May 15. This would be a terrific opportunity for those newly minted JDs who have the option (as Roger discussed here) to be paid by their law firm for an outside volunteer opportunity with an NGO: The American Society of International Law (ASIL) invites applicants for...
As the BBC reports here, the DR Congo parliament has passed an amnesty law for "acts of war" committed by militia in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. Although it looks aimed to assist the ongoing peace process within the DRC, the granting of an amnesty for only DR nationals (foreign fighters are not included) and then...
