Speaking of revised government tests, the foreign service exam and the general criteria for selection are getting an overhaul as a result of a look from McKinsey. The new process will allow for consideration of factors beyond test scores (to take references and international experience into consideration, for instance). The exam itself doesn't sound like it'll get changed...
Last week, Julian criticized Hamdan for its failure "to defer to the executive's reasonable interpretations of the relevant statutes, treaties, and customary international law of war." Julian's use of the term "reasonable" implies that, at least in principle, the executive could offer an unreasonable interpretation of a statute, treaty, or customary rule — one that, accordingly, would not require...
Ordinary citizens greet the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, as "Helen." ...
Although evidence that Bush and Blair lied about Saddam's WMD capabilities has been accumulating for the past couple of years, this latest revelation is still shocking:In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He...
The Iraqi government's assault on the independence and objectivity of the IHT continues. The trial court was its first target: not only did Iraqi President Jalal Talabani tell reporters on the eve of the Dujail trial that Saddam had signed a written confession and "deserve[d] to be executed 20 times a day for his crimes against humanity," high-ranking officials...
Here is the text of the speech by new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. There are a few good lines from the speech, such as the following: Member States need a dynamic and courageous Secretariat, not one that is passive and risk-averse. The time has come for a new day in relations between the Secretariat and Member States. The...
The D.C. District Court recently issued a very thoughtful opinion in the recent case of Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation. The case concerns claims by the Jewish organization Chabad that Russia had expropriated an invaluable collection of Jewish religious books and manuscripts maintained since 1775 from the first Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, (pictured at left)...
Israel's High Court of Justice has issued a ruling finding that Israeli military forces may engage in "targeted killings" of Palestinian terrorists consistent with the customary international law of war. A useful discussion of the background of this case can be found here. An English version of the decision can be found here. The decision is a long and...
Ethiopia's former dictator, Mengistu Haile Marian, has been convicted in absentia of genocide following a 12-year trial involving 72 defendants. All but one were found guilty; 34 defendants were present in court, while 25 were tried in absentia. Sentencing, which will almost certainly result in a death sentence for Mengistu, is set for December 28. Regardless, the exercise...
I have just posted a short essay on SSRN critiquing the ICTR's recent decision in Prosecutor v. Karemera et al. Here is the abstract: The Appeals Chamber of the ICTR recently held in Prosecutor v. Karemera et al. that the existence of a nationwide campaign of genocide in Rwanda in 1994 is a “fact of common knowledge” of which Trial...
Academic papers rarely get front-page coverage in the major media, but that's the treatment this study got earlier this week in the Financial Times. (I bet the authors are sorry, though, that the FT didn't link to the SSRN version.) Perhaps the most interesting claim (from a quick look) is that judges may be more biased than juries...
Judge Robertson dismissed Hamdan's peititon for a writ of habeas corpus on the grounds that the Military Commissions Act strips the court of jurisdiction over his case. I can't yet find the order online, but here is a taste: "The Military Commissions Act and the briefs of the parties present three questions: (1) As a matter of statutory interpretation and construction,...
