In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

10 Jul

UVA lawprof Rosa Brooks has a measured op-ed in Sunday's LA Times surveying the progress of efforts to prosecute serious violations of international human rights on the 10th anniversary of the massacre at Srebenica. Unlike some advocates of international criminal justice, Prof. Brooks is restrained in her claims for the benefits of international tribunals like the International Criminal Court. Even...

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08 Jul

The ASIL international organizations interest group has forwarded the following information about a conference call tomorrow, July 9, at 1:00 pm EDT, with Ed Mortimer of the UN and Don Kraus from Citizens for Global Solutions. For those of you interested in the reform agenda and the upcoming September summit, this sounds like a good opportunity to get up...

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07 Jul

I didn't want to seem wholly unaffected by the horrible terror attacks in London, but I didn't feel like I had anything useful to add from an international legal point of view. But where a cautious lawprof blogger fears to tread, lawyer Andrew McCarthy does not, in this blistering National Review Online piece.McCarthy's basic point is that the UK, unlike...

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07 Jul

Rising Washington & Lee lawprof David Zaring has a nice (and somewhat brave) post up at Prawfsblawg previewing some descriptive research he has done on the citation in foreign law by U.S. courts over a long stretch of time. Here is his main conclusion so far:citation to foreign authority is hardly unprecedented, even in the modern era;but such citation,...

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06 Jul

In yet another case of U.S. compliance with an international tribunal ruling, the Bush Administration has proposed legislative changes that would reduce U.S. cotton subsidies (by about $350 million) and bring the U.S. into compliance with a WTO decision won by Brazil. This action follows its announcement last week that the Administration would make certain administrative adjustments to comply...

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06 Jul

There are increasing reports about rising anti-Americanism in the Central Asian Republics and pressure by these republics for the U.S. to have an exit timetable for the troops stationed there. Contrast this with the argument of some strategists that the U.S. needs to establish a long term presence in these republics to (a) prevent terrorist training camps from taking root...

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05 Jul

Justice O’Connor’s views on international law and foreign law are moderate, well-reasoned, and consistent. Julian points out two quotes and implies that, somehow, they don’t fit together in a "[]satisfying" world view. I disagree. On topics of international law, Justice O’Connor has consistently held that U.S. judges should, in certain instances, give persuasive authority to international tribunals....

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05 Jul

The ICJ is hearing oral arguments this week in a long-running case between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo is alleging that Rwanda is responsible for the deaths of some 3.5 million Congolese who have died during Congo's civil wars because of Rwanda's intervention in that civil war. Congo is asking for an order from the ICJ requiring...

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04 Jul

Just in time for Independence Day, Northwestern Law Prof John McGinnis has posted this neat little article arguing that the Founders were free traders much in the same vein that the U.S. government is today. In particular, he notes that the Continental Congress approved a "Model Treaty" that would have provided "national treatment" to treaty partners, e.g. that nationals of...

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02 Jul

I have very little to add to the zillions of articles and blog posts about the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her likely successor. I did want to point out, though, that Justice O'Connor was (not surprisingly) a moderate in the Court's recent embrace of foreign and international law. Justice O'Connor appears to see some useful analogies...

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02 Jul

As I suggested earlier this week, the U.S. government had to announce what it was going to do about the WTO's cotton subsidy decision by Friday, July 1. Well, the U.S. announcement is here and it is pretty mind-numbingly technical. It basically adjusts some export credit programs. The announcement was made by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture rather than the...

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30 Jun

In my original post I stated that, legally speaking, the embassy hostages issue was pretty much a closed case, and that a suit is unlikely to be successful against the President-elect of Iran. Julian put some meat on the bones of this statement in his post concerning the Algiers Accords and statutes of limitation. Upon more reflection, I think we...

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