Pope Benedict XVI's message this week condemning violence and holy war as against the natural order of things was quite interesting. The full text is not yet available in English (here it is in German), but reportedly the Pope quoted from a 14th- and 15th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus in his speech. "The emperor comes to speak about the...
What limits, if any, exist for the President’s ability to issue “signing statements” concurrently with his signature of a congressional bill? For example, can the President indicate that he’ll construe a statute to apply only where consistent with his view of his constitutional authorities? President Bush did just that with respect to the McCain Amendment; indicating he would...
Here's a cautionary tale for all you constitutional comparativists out there. Yesterday the United Kingdom convicted its first individual after the reform of its "double jeopardy" rule, which prohibits individuals from being tried twice for the same crime (thanks to my current colleague Professor Paul Marcus of William & Mary Law for the heads up). The same double...
Struck by the fact that the two articles in the May 2006 issue of the Yale Law Journal were both international law-related, I thought it might be interesting to see how IL is playing in main law reviews relative to the recent past. Unsurprisingly, the number of articles on IL subjects has increased pretty dramatically. In the two...
Nobel. Fields. Pulitzer. Booker. Templeton. The disciplines of physics, chemistry, medicine, peace, literature, economics, mathematics, history, journalism, photography, and religion all have their prize. Law has no such award. Why is there no comparable prize for advancement in the field of law? Is it something about the discipline of law that does not justify such an...
Tanzania has released Calixte Gakwaya, the ICTR defense attorney suspected of participating in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Although no explanation for the release was given, a day earlier the ICTR Registrar, Adama Deng, had expressed concern about Gakwaya's arrest to Tanzanian authorities, pointing out that the UN and Tanzania have agreed on certain immunities for lawyers representing Tribunal defendants. ...
A Japanese court yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed against Japan by eight Chinese women who were forced to be "comfort women" for Japanese troops during WW II. The decision acknowledged that the troops had confined, beat, and raped the women, but denied them compensation on the ground that the 20-year period for demanding such compensation had expired. Seven other...
A federal judge in Argentina has overturned a presidential pardon given to Jorge Rafael Videla, one of the leaders of the junta that led Argentina during the Dirty War. Videla was convicted in 1985 on charges of abduction, torture, and murder, but was pardoned by former President Menem in 1990. Last year, Argentina's Supreme Court overturned amnesty laws protecting...
I wanted to say just a few words about Julian’s comment below to the effect that both sides are taking cheap shots in the debate over terrorism. I agree that some criticism of the Administration and its policies goes over the line - see the examples collected in this Boston Globe column by Jeff Jacoby. I also agree...
Where were you that morning? I was in Geneva. I was working with Charles Brower and Pieter Bekker on a hearing before the United Nations Compensation Commission. Across the table from us were nine Iraqis arguing that Iraq should not be required to pay compensation for the millions our client spent protecting their employees from Iraqi missiles...
Readers of Opinio Juris have a rare chance to determine who is a more reliable Washington pundit: Steve Clemons of the Washington Note or Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard. As Kevin points out below, Clemons is reporting that Bolton's nomination is "dead." At the same time, Fred Barnes has devoted a full cover story in the Weekly...
Breaking news: Chile's Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision that stripped Pinochet of his immunity in a case involving Chile's infamous Villa Grimaldi prison, paving the way for him to face dozens of charges of torture and kidnapping. Here is Wikipedia's description of Villa Grimaldi:Villa Grimaldi was a complex of buildings used for the interrogation and torture...
