I read with great interest the transcript of the oral argument in Medellin yesterday. From my perspective Justice Breyer had the best grasp of the potential impact of this case on international adjudication. Several times Justice Breyer asked about whether the rule we apply in this case will also adversely affect our recognition of decisions of other international...
This episode brings into pretty clear relief the potential downside of congressional foreign policymaking (front-page story today in the NY Times; you can find the resolution here). I'm surprised that the Bush Administration hasn't made some sort of constitutional argument against the measure. It might be a tough one to make, but that's hardly stopped this Administration from...
Meet Ann Coulter, Fox News media darling, best-selling author, syndicated columnist — and raving anti-Semite. From an exchange with Donny Deutsch on CNBC: DEUTSCH: Let me ask you a question. We're going to get off strengths and weakness for a second. If you had your way, and all of your — forget that any of them...
For those who've not yet heard enough about Medellin, the transcript is now available here. I've only had time to give it a quick glance, but thought I'd pass on my initial reactions and open the door for other comments. I guess what's most interesting about the argument was what didn't happen; although touched tangentially, the argument spent...
can be found here. Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSBlog's report on the argument can be found here. My reading of the transcript, which is not as thorough as Lyle's actually reporting on it, suggests that there is substantial hostility to the direct enforceability of ICJ judgments (Scalia, Roberts, Alito) and somewhat less substantial hostility from those same justices to the...
Further to Julian's comments on Medellin, make sure to check out this post on the Volokh Conspiracy explaining how, if Medellin wins, Hillary Clinton and the "World Court" ("ICJ" doesn't sound scary enough) could conspire to repeal the Second Amendment. ...
For what its worth, I should be on Kevin's favorite news source, the Fox News Channel, around 3 p.m. New York time today discussing issues related to the Medellin case. *3:30 p.m. Actually, it wasn't worth much, since I got bumped for a breaking news story on the Cleveland school shootings. Oh well, that's cable news! ...
Jose Medellin, the Mexican national facing a death sentence in Texas, is getting his second day at the U.S. Supreme Court today. Medellin is seeking to suspend his execution due to U.S. violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in his arrest and subsequent conviction and the International Court of Justice's interpretatin of those obligations. Medellin's earlier petition...
40 of 55 inmates in a Tanzanian prison awaiting trial at the ICTR have gone on a hunger strike to protest the scheduled transfer of three cases to Rwanda. According to their signed statement, the inmates do not believe that the Rwandan judicial system will provide the defendants with a fair trial:On 7 September, the ICTR prosecutor requested that...
Yes, there would indeed be peace in the Sudan if only the ICC would quit demanding accountability for government officials: The town belongs to the only Darfur rebel faction to sign a 2006 peace deal with the Sudanese government. Yet yesterday Sudanese government troops and allied militia attacked Muhajiriya, burning half of the town to the ground in a "stab in the...
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review an appeal brought by Khaled el-Masri, a German national who alleged that he was kidnapped by CIA agents in Europe and held in an Afghan prison. El-Masri's lawsuit was dismissed, not on the merits, but on the "state secrets privilege" ground. This is not totally surprising, but it suggests that...
Registration is now open for International Law Weekend 2007, the annual conference of the American Branch of the International Law Association, which takes place at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York October 25-27. The full program --in which Opinio Juris regulars and many of our alumni are participating -- and registration information is...
