Not quite as crazy as it sounds. More Americans are living abroad (estimates run as high as five million), and they are more politically active. As reported on this NPR segment, Rudolph Giuliani held a fundraiser yesterday in London — apparently the first time that a presidential candidate has held such an event outside the United States. ...
Here’s a striking takeaway from Jack Goldsmith’s book: Bush Administration officials now fear international law, as in: they really worry about being hauled before the dock in foreign and international tribunals. Who knew? Of course they’re more worried about facing prosecution in federal courts, and the hefty legal expenses that would come even with exoneration. That was...
What can I say, this is a terrific book. The Terror Presidency artfully weaves a personal narrative with some serious historical perspectives; it succeeds at being thoughtful, modest, and human; and the result is pretty compelling. The book is something of a perfect storm as a critique of the Bush Administration’s post-9/11 policies. Unlike run-of-the-mill tell-alls, Goldsmith...
Don't be surprised if you see a headline along these lines in the not-so-distant future. The NY Times today has an interesting lead story on how corporations are now pushing for federal regulation in various areas instead of fighting it, on issues ranging from fuel efficiency to predatory lending practices to cigarette lighter safety. The story highlights three elements...
Guess what this is. It's modern day international democracy at work, in this case Microsoft's winning effort to have the US vote "yes" to extending ISO approval to its OOXML file format as open-source software. Sounds arcane, but apparently tens of millions of dollars in government contracts are at stake with the question. Alas, Microsoft failed to...
ICJ president and sometime lawprof Rosalyn Higgins has been awarded one of four 2007 Balzan Prizes. The citation is here. The prize comes with a million Swiss francs (that's more than $800,000). Under a condition imposed in 2001, "prize winners must now destine half of their awards for research projects carried out preferably by young humanists and...
Since moving to Philadelphia last summer, I’ve been struck by the large number of African-American women here who wear head scarves and full burkas – the latter-dressed entirely in black, with face fully covered except for a thin opening around the eyes. Until this piece appeared a couple of weeks ago in the Philadelphia Inquirer (as much focused on...
Jack Goldsmith had this op-ed in yesterday's FT, in which he argues a convergence on anti-terror thinking among Americans and Europeans. The Europeans, on the one hand, appear now to understand that ordinary criminal processes won't do the trick, where the US is coming to understand that anti-terror practices will be subject to law. Here's the money graf:These...
I’ll join the chorus praising Michael Ramsey’s work, both the book The Constitution’s Text in Foreign Affairs and his scholarship over the course of more than a decade. Mike’s is an important and distinctive voice in the foreign relations law community. It is refreshingly agenda-free. As Martin Flaherty points out, his conclusions don’t line up neatly...
Here's a smart idea out of New Haven: issuing ID cards to city residents regardless of immigration status. According to this report, some 10-12,000 undocumented aliens living in New Haven are eligible for the card, which will allow immigrants to fill prescriptions and access local banks, libraries, and public services. "Most importantly, it will designate them as full-fledged participants...
Britain's upping the ante with the expulsion of four Russian diplomats (more details here and here) had me wondering whether Russia's refusal to extradite alleged poison plotter Alexander Lugovoi comprises a violation of international law. It looks to me like Russia is pretty clearly within its formal IL rights here. There's no bilateral extradition treaty in...
Tom Goldstein has this post with a not-so-short list of possible nominees for the Supreme Court should a Democrat take the White House in 2008. I count only two internationalists out of the 30 on the list: Yale Law dean Harold Koh and Seventh Circuit judge Diane Wood. My question: why doesn't Koh make Goldstein's shorter list of nine "leading"...
