As most of our readers already know, a U.S. federal judge has invalidated the U.S. government's program for wiretapping phone calls without a warrant. I know this is a hard issue, but this is one of the least persuasive opinions I've ever seen on this question. The judge found that the program (called the "Terrorist Surveillance Program") violated the...
I'm sure a few of our readers have some interest in the international legal aspects of the arrest in Thailand of John Mark Karr in the JonBenet Ramsey case. There is some discussion of the topic at the International Extradition Blog. Because it is surprisingly difficult to find information about the U.S.-Thailand Extradition Treaty on the Internet, I...
The Yale Journal of International Law has issued a call for papers for their fifth annual Young Scholars’ Conference. The full announcement and submission information can be found in a link from this page. The conference theme is The “New” New Haven School: International Law—Past, Present & Future and it is scheduled for March 2007. They describe it...
I know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of former Nazis still roaming the earth -- but I never thought that their ranks would include a Nobel laureate and anti-war icon. So this certainly came as a suprise: Gunter Grass, Germany's greatest living author and doyen of the left, has confessed that he was a teenage member of...
Professor Mariano-Florentino ("Tino") Cuellar at Stanford Law School has an interesting article forthcoming in the Georgetown Journal of International Law on an unusual subject: refugee security. The title of the article is Refugee Security and the Organizational Logic of Legal Mandates. The abstract and article are available for download here. Cuellar presents a compelling case for...
U.S. Media Mogul Martha Stewart is still fighting over her use of insider information to sell a pharmaceutical company’s stock before bad news about the company’s prospects became public. It looks like the Chief of Staff for Israel’s Defense Force, Daniel Halutz, is in for a similar fight. Halutz is rejecting calls for his resignation after admitting...
Recent Yale Law School grad and proto-law professor Ariel Lavinbuk has a useful piece in Slate reviewing the still ongoing constitutional challenge to the Chapter 19 NAFTA dispute resolution process. The constitutional issue is a good one, but I was under the impression that the recent settlement of the lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada would require the...
For those who have not done so already, it’s time to readjust the ICJ’s win/loss column when it comes to state compliance with the World Court’s decisions. In 1994, Cameroon sued Nigeria over the land and maritime boundary between the two nation states. In particular, Cameroon claimed sovereignty over the Bakassi peninsula, an area rich in fisheries and...
Each year, pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Department of State submits to Congress a report on countries' efforts to eliminate human trafficking. The report divides countries into three tiers, with Tier 1 including countries that have made significant efforts to comply with U.S. law's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons, and Tier 3 including...
Shadi Hamid at Democracy Arsenal has a nuanced take on the "winners and losers" of the fighting in Lebanon and Israel. Well worth the read. ...
What a difference a year makes. Lionel Beehner at the Council on Foreign Relations has some interesting thoughts on the one-year anniversary of the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "One year later, President Ahmadinejad has emerged as one of the world's leading anti-American voices. His rhetoric has inflamed an already tense Middle East and empowered the region's Shiites...
This report from the Bahrain News Agency doesn't bode well -- especially the highlighted clause:Tehran, Aug. 13, (BNA) Iranian Oil Minister, Khadim Waziri and his Iraqi counterpart, Hossein Shahrastani, signed here on Sunday a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the oil field. Iran News Agency (IRNA) said the Mou stipulated that Iran should supply Iraq with kerosene and liquefied...
