The US is one of the few countries in the world to tax nonresident citizens. But enforcement overseas has never been easy, or much of a priority. That is, until the authorities uncovered some big-time asset offshoring by resident citizens (yes, in Swiss bank accounts) for purposes of tax evasion. That resulted in legislation directed at foreign holdings of all US...
The Supreme Court announced a grant this morning in the SB 1070 case. I don't know why the Court took the case. It could easily have ducked. There are other cases working their way through the pipeline from copycat states (Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina). The Court could have waited for further "percolation" of the issue in the lower...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a worthy initiative on Tuesday, looking to advance gay rights at the global level. It is yet further evidence of the consequentiality of international human rights that basically all identity groups see value to pressing a global agenda. The "presidential memorandum" setting forth the initiative sends an important cue from the top about how...
I've been arguing for some time (here, here, and here, all pre-SSRN) that the globalized economy enables the world to directly discipline US states in the context of foreign relations and human rights, and that this in turn erases the need for a dormant federal foreign affairs power. The thumbnail version: in the old world, state-level foreign relations activity involved intolerable...
Outcasting is an important contribution to international legal theory and an engaging read. But I wonder if the theory isn't limited by its assumption that sovereignty continues to be foundational to international law. The article closes with this: It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of state sovereignty in international law. The international legal system is both created by and creates...
On top of everything else, Congress now threatens to severely restrict official contacts with Iran. This from Heather Hurlburt at Democracy Arsenal: If you're too transfixed by the prospect of the US losing its seat on the IAEA board of governors, losing Japanese funding through UNESCO for police training in Afghanistan, and potentially losing global patent protection, all...
We’re pleased this week to host a discussion of Ruti Teitel's new book, Humanity's Law, just out from Oxford University Press. Ruti is Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law at New York Law School, where she directs the Institute for Global Law, Justice, & Policy. She is also Visiting Professor, London School of Economics. The book is a major contribution...
How does citizenship fit into the al-Awlaki picture? It's obviously important. Otherwise he's just another senior-level al Qaeda operative taken out by a drone. Not insignificant, but not an event that would generate a lot of discussion, especially not on the law. On the other hand, imagine if al-Awlaki had been an American not of Middle Eastern descent and not a...
As part of an series of "mea culpa" posts by various post 9/11 players over at the Lawfare blog, Jack Goldsmith recounts how his views on lawyering within the government's national security complex have changed, from skepticism to acceptance. On the use of law by those seeking to constrain the government's discretion from the outside: I started the decade in ...
Yes, it's true. There must be dozens, perhaps even hundreds of newborns who are extended US citizenship every year even though they are "not subject to the jurisdiction thereof." Find the evidence in a report from the restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies here. Perhaps I shouldn't be so snarky: the report is a pretty interesting one. It certainly plows new ground. ...
So now we have the Administration's full-dress treatment of its take on "hostilities" under the War Powers Resolution, with Harold Koh's testimony yesterday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I think it sets out a good case, well worth a close read. I actually think it's good enough that it might have carried the day. Congress after all has acquiesced to...
The controversy over the Administration's interpretation of the War Powers Resolution has some people conflating that issue with the broader one of when the President can use force without congressional authorization. This isn't surprising, since the Administration has used a similar tack in both contexts. With respect to the War Powers Resolution, the Administration claims the Libya operation does not constitute...
