Still more news today on Holocaust litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in the Ninth Circuit case of Alperin v. Vatican Bank. The order list is here. The Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this year that the property claims by plaintiffs should not be dismissed under the political question doctrine but that the "war objective claims" should be...
An Austrian arbitration court has ordered the return of five multi-million dollar paintings by Gustav Klimt to the rightful owner, Maria Altmann. The best coverage is from the L.A. Times, which has interviews of Maria Altmann and her attorney Randol Schoenberg, both of whom reside in Los Angeles. Another report stated that the world-renowned 1907 portrait of Altmann's aunt, Adele...
If you read Larry Solum's thoughtful post on the importance of blogging, you understand why young legal academics are embracing the medium. Among other things, Solum suggests that blogs provide a new method for legal research. "Ask anyone under 25 how they do research. Frankly, I'd be surprised if there were more than a tiny fraction of frank answers that...
Geoffrey Corn is signing off as a guest blogger today and we at Opinio Juris are very grateful for his posts. He has excelled at providing deep insight on numerous matters pertaining to the laws of war. As a new second-career law professor we welcome you to the club and look forward to reading your articles. Thanks Geoffrey!...
The announcement that Oprah Winfrey has selected Elie Wiesel's Night as its book of the month has catapulted it to Amazon's number one bestseller. I am thrilled that Oprah Winfrey has chosen this book, which was one of the most significant literary experiences of my young adulthood.According to this article in the New York Times, "Winfrey said she plans to...
Last year I wrote a short piece on Martin Luther King Jr. and international justice; I copy the main part of it here:...
This past week, Military Commission proceedings were "fired up" again in Guantanamo. In two cases, one against Canadian detainee Omar Khadr, the other against Yemeni detainee Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, military defense lawyers confronted the challenge of dealing with a process long ago repudiated by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and by all accounts distinguished themselves (see...
Today the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. I studied Martin Luther King extensively prior to law school and have always admired him greatly. One of the most important legal questions King raised in his struggle for civil rights was the appropriate means to secure just ends. In particular, King was more than willing to defy laws if he deemed...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for an international conference on the Holocaust. A Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "Iran's Foreign Ministry has decided to hold a conference on the Holocaust to assess its scale by scientific means and discuss its consequences." The event will be sponsored by Iran and the Organization of the Islamic Conference "in consultation with other...
On the final day of the Alito hearings, Julian Ku's colleague Professor Nora Demleitner at Hofstra School of Law testified on Judge Alito's immigration record. Demleitner was a clerk for Judge Alito and part of her testimony focused on one aspect of his immigration jurisprudence that has been ignored in my previous posts: gender as a basis for asylum law.Here...
The U.S. has seemingly blocked two sales of military planes to Venezuela: one from Spain, and another from Brazil. In each case—turboprop trainers in the Brazilian case, and patrol planes in the Spanish case—the planes in question had U.S. military technology. As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez complained this week:We couldn't sign the document. The contract is ready for Brazil to...
As Peggy's earlier post indicated, MG Geoffrey Miller today asserted his privilege against self-incrimination in order to avoid being questioned by the defense attorney representing a soldier pending trial for using military working dogs to abuse prisoners. Is this significant?First, as we know from press reports, MG Miller made this decision on advice of his military defense counsel, Major Michelle...
