Great news on the conviction of Saddam Hussein. Here is how Iraq the Model, who is part of Pajamas Media and one of the top Iraqi bloggers, expressed his views regarding the news of Saddam Hussein's conviction: I was overwhelmed with joy and relief as I watched the criminals being read their verdicts. For the first time in our region...
To celebrate Halloween, I thought you might find this article by Professor Aaron Schwabach interesting. It is entitled Harry Potter and the Unforgivable Curses: Norm-formation, Inconsistency, and the Rule of Law in the Wizardy World. It already has a following, ranking as the 11th most popular SSRN download relating to international law. The key question is...
There is one aspect of the Military Commissions Act that appears to have been overlooked by most commentators thus far. It is an extremely important provision as it relates to how the courts will interpret the Geneva Conventions as implemented through the MCA. Section 6 of the MCA includes a number of important interpretive instructions regarding the implementation of the...
Hold all calls. I'm busy blogging. I've been blogging all morning. You should be blogging too. It's awesome. This hilarious video pokes fun at the self-important blogosphere. ...
The New Jersey Supreme Court in Lewis v. Harris ruled that the equal protection provisions of the New Jersey Constitution require equality of treatment for same-sex couples. But it left to the legislature the decision whether to amend the marriage statutes or create a new statutory structure for civil unions. In examining whether same-sex marriage is deeply rooted...
Here is the latest from InTrade on the likely continued GOP control of the Senate and House. Both graphs (click to enlarge) reflect the buy/sell price from 10/05/05 to 10/24/06 for continued GOP control following the mid-term elections. The money appears to favor continued Republican control of the Senate, but strongly favor Democratic control of the House. ...
Phil Carter, who contributes to one of the smartest military blogs over at Intel-Dump, speculated about the recent announcements regarding possible changes to the security situation in Iraq. Here is what Carter suggests: I'm still trying to figure out why, after so many statements that we were succeeding, the U.S. would decide to say that we needed a course correction....
The news that Jan Pronk, the UN Special Envoy for Sudan, was no longer welcome in Sudan raises important issues about the authority and wisdom of diplomats who give public expressions of their personal views. Jan Pronk's blog is quite good, and offers frank, personal insights about the ongoing crisis in Sudan. But on October 14, 2006 Pronk got...
The D.C. Circuit this week rendered an interesting decision defining what constitutes a foreign terrorist organization. The case is Chai v. Department of State, and involved the State Department's designation of three Israeli right-wing extremist groups--Kahane Chai, Kach, and Kahane.org--as foreign terrorist organizations. If you want to get a sense of the organization, you can check out their...
I was at a recent event that involved a discussion with a federal appeals court judge regarding the interpretation of treaties in federal courts. One of the cases under discussion involved interpretation of a particular phrase in a well-known treaty. This particular judge is an extremely thoughtful, erudite, and scholarly judge. When someone in the room raised...
Opinio Juris warmly welcomes Betsy Andersen as the new Executive Director for the American Society of International Law. We are delighted that Betsy has agreed to be interviewed to introduce her to our readers. Having spent several hours this weekend at a colloquium discussing the future of the ASIL with Betsy Andersen and ASIL President Jose Alvarez, I left...
Paul Caron over at TaxProf Blog has posted on law professor blogs that have "juice." We are among the "juiciest" law blogs. The "Blog Juice Calculator" he relies upon is used to determine whether a blog is a good candidate for selling advertisement space. ...
