This post marks the end of my stint as guest-blogger. Although I have a few bruises to show for it, I have nonetheless appreciated the opportunity to have an in-depth dialogue with all of you regarding what I believe are very difficult legal issues, and hope that this dialogue will continue on this forum and others over the weeks...
The Wall Street Journal has a provocative editorial today about the role of Congress in the war in Iraq. They argue that Congress is acting unconstitutionally in the manner in which it is attempting to micromanage the war effort. Here is a flavor: To understand why the Founders put war powers in the hands of the Presidency, look no...
Here's something I didn't realize: Manuel Noriega will be released from prison in September, after serving a little more than half of his 30-year sentence:Noriega has been in U.S. custody since surrendering 17 years ago during the U.S. invasion of Panama. He is currently serving a 30-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering. "He has now come to the point where...
The D.C. Circuit last week rendered an important ruling in an ATS case regarding appellate jurisdiction over political questions. In Doe v. Exxon, the Court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal. The case sounds similar to the Unocal-Burma case with allegations that Exxon retained government soldiers as guards for their natural gas facility and these security...
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum begins tomorrow in Davos, the small chalet town that has now become synonomous with power in the era of globalization, a sort of latter-day collective Versailles. It does seem that the lead-up to this year's meeting is getting less attention than in recent years (though we now have daily blogging from...
Here's what I see up on the web by way of spring IL colloquiua. Jeff Dunoff and I are convening one here at Temple, with a terrific line-up including Paul Schiff Berman, Bill Burke-White, David Zaring, Oona Hathaway, David Luban, Joost Pauwelyn, David Luban, and Catherine Powell. Duke (Curt Bradley, Ralf Michaels, Joost Pauwelyn) Georgetown (Carlos Vazquez) University of Georgia (Dan Bodansky...
[Opinio Juris welcomes Deborah Pearlstein as a guest respondent. She will spend the coming year as an Associate Research Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. For the past three years, she has directed the Law and Security Program at Human Rights First.] With thanks to Opinio Juris for inviting me to engage...
During my recent blog-vacation, I didn't notice that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari last week in a neat little case involving the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations v. the City of New York. The dispute is whether New York City's suit to to recover unpaid property taxes imposed on property owned by the Government of...
[NOTE to Opinio Juris Readers: Although we will continue to host John Bellinger as a guest blogger today, I thought I'd resume normal programming and start posting on other topics. But please stick around for future posts by John as well.] The International Court of Justice will issue its decision today (around 10 a.m. Hague time, GMT +1, which is about...
In his latest post, John Bellinger claims that “[c]ritics will now accept virtually any speculation and rumor and circulate them as fact,” even though “[a]llegations about U.S. military or intelligence activities have become so hyperbolic as to be absurd.” He may well be right on the first count, but he has completely failed to prove the second. With...
As I look to wrap up what has been an energetic and stimulating dialogue on a host of international legal issues, I would like to post some responses now, and will conclude next week. Let me reiterate how much we appreciate the comments, especially from those who have provided detailed legal and historical analysis. For too long, the discourse...
The excellent posts by Professors Ku, Golove and Sloss address a central constitutional issue in the law-of-war field: which branch of the U.S. government has the authority to decide what the laws of war require. Below are a few thoughts based on my assessment of the text’s original meaning (for what that may be worth). 1. Ultimate authority on...
