In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

28 Aug

Robert Bork asserts that “judges of international courts . . . are continuing to undermine democratic institutions.” This hostility implies that international courts engage in illegitimate judicial activism. Assuming that international judges do occasionally engage in international lawmaking, does this activity deserve to be dismissed as untoward? It is becoming increasingly clear that states tolerate—and perhaps encourage—international judicial...

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28 Aug

One of the issues identified by Tomer Broude in his APSA virtual roundtable introduction is the allocation of rule-determination power between national bodies and international tribunals. He also notes the growing concern of judicial activism by international tribunals, with the WTO Appellate Body as the most notable example. He identifies an emerging international judiciary that represents an international...

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28 Aug

I hope readers enjoy the “virtual roundtable” we’re hosting here at Opinio Juris this week in the run-up to the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) annual meeting. And, if you happen to be in Philadelphia for the APSA meeting, we’d like to invite you to a real roundtable of sorts. We’re hosting a happy hour on Friday night,...

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28 Aug

I have no idea whether this report is true, but I really hope it is:FORMER Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is being made to watch his appearance in cult cartoon South Park while he is behind bars, it emerged yesterday. Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said US Marines guarding the former dictator...

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28 Aug

As Julian Ku announced a few days ago, over the next few days Opinio Juris will be hosting a virtual preview of a Roundtable on "the Allocation of Normative Power to and among International Tribunals" that will be held at next weekend's APSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Participants are: Roger Alford, Allison Danner, Jeffrey Dunoff, Laurence Helfer, Julian Ku, Thomas...

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27 Aug

The BBC reports that the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army has reached a truce in the 20 year civil war that may eventually lead to a comprehensive peace agreement. As we noted on this blog, the apparent success of this round of peace talks has been an informal assurance by the International Criminal Court that it would...

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27 Aug

Professor William J. Stuntz, the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law at Harvard has a very persuasive and well-argued essay in the Weekly Standard analyzing and rejecting arguments for a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq. Stuntz is a very smart guy and a leading professor of criminal law. But even though I tend to agree with him here,...

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27 Aug

A Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, Paul Salopek, is being held in a Sudanese jail on charges of espionage. Salopek and his driver and his interpreter, both Chadian nationals who were similarly charged, were arrested in Darfur on August 6th, where Salopek was on assignment for National Geographic. On Tuesday, Representatives Chris Shays and Brian Higgins were able to visit...

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27 Aug

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave an important speech on Friday regarding global economic integration. It provides one of the best glimpses of the new Fed Chairman's vision of economic globalism. In essence it is a statement of what is old and what is new about the current wave of globalism. It also is a wonderful speech...

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26 Aug

With all respect, I believe my summary of the substantive non-jurisdictional issues raised by the genocide claim was, while brief, quite complete, non-tendentious, and fully engaged in the substance. I stated quite clearly that Ahmadinejad called for the elimination of the state of Israel. While I think it is well understood that this would be accomplished by military means involving...

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25 Aug

I read with great interest Professor Bell's analysis of whether the ICC would have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute President Ahmadinejad for direct and public incitement to genocide. I just want to to point out that the jurisdictional question he discusses is actually more complicated than he suggests. The critical Article is Article 12, "Preconditions to the Exercise of Jurisdiction,"...

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