I spent my last weekend in Sweden camping and hiking on the island of Tjörn on the west coast of Sweden, just north of Gothenburg. When I came to the idyllic sailing village of Skärhamn, I knew this was where I would spend the night. So 300 meters from the Nordic Watercolour Museum, I found an ocean-view spot...
The Supreme Court term ended today. In terms of cases relevant to Opinio Juris readers, there was only one blockbuster case, Massachusetts v. EPA. We profited from various posts about that case already, including contributions from Hari Osofsky, Dan Bodansky, and John Knox. But beyond that one case, in my opinion there was nothing of significance this...
It seems that in the first dozen years of the WTO there has been a tremendous amount of litigation about environmental protection and health measures. The key question in these cases often has been whether government action to advance such health and environmental concerns is consistent with WTO obligations. But what has been surprisingly absent from the WTO...
Brian Tamanaha over at Balkinization has responded to my post from last week, clarifying just why he thinks patriotism is so dangerous. His essential argument is that patriotism is not virtuous because politicians can abuse it in their desire for an inexorable march to war. He argues that "[s]ome good follows from patriotism, of course, but the bad...
Recent meetings in Germany of the G4 (the EU, the United States, India and Brazil) failed to bridge the necessary gaps in the positions of the key representatives for the developed and developing countries. If there was any doubt before, it definitely appears that Doha is dead. You can read the press statements from the US here and...
In one of the more remarkable posts I have read, Brian Tamanaha over at Balkinization loudly protests against the virtues of patriotism: For many reasons, I feel fortunate to have been born in the United States, but I don’t love my country. It has no love for any of us. A cold, manipulative, object of affection, the state fans patriotism, then...
If you want entry-level work in England, you best polish your Polish. According to this news report, some British citizens allegedly are being turned away from agricultural and factory work in England because they don't speak Polish. "The influx of Eastern European workers means the language is now vital for jobs in agriculture, says MP Malcolm Moss. His...
The case of Powerex v. Reliant Energy Services presents a delicate procedural question regarding appellate jurisdiction and the FSIA immunity protections. Bottom line: Do federal appellate courts have jurisdiction over FSIA questions (i.e., whether a corporation is a foreign state entity) when an appeal is jurisdictionally barred? The answer from the Supreme Court today is no. The case...
In addition to Julian's comments from last week about the Supreme Court's opinion in India v. New York, I just had one other quick thought about Justice Thomas' majority opinion. It should be underscored that the majority's approach to statutory interpretation appeared quite comfortable in relying on international law. It is not exactly a Charming Betsy case, because...
There has been a lot of buzz on the blogosphere (see here, here, and here) about this article by Jason Nance and Dylan Steinberg in which they outline the results of a national survey they conducted on the law review article selection process. Any law professor who has an interest in top placement of their articles in student law journals (i.e.,...
Check out Bobby Chesney's take over at National Security Advisors. Bottom line: "Given that Khadr was determined by a CSRT to satisfy the “enemy combatant” definition, and given that comparable language is used in § 948a(1) to describe who counts as an unlawful enemy combatant, it would seem that there is a strong case to be made that...
One of great perqs of teaching international law is the opportunity to participate in study abroad programs. I have done so almost every year since I started teaching, and this year I will be headed to Sweden to teach International Trade at Suffolk Law School's program in Lund. There is virtually no limit to the choices you have if you...
