As Bill Schabas noted in his recent post, the Comoros referral raises interesting questions concerning the Pre-Trial Chamber's power to review a decision by the OTP not to open a full investigation into a situation. Most people who don't keep a copy of the Rome Statute in their back pocket probably believe that the OTP has complete discretion concerning such...
This is very interesting. The Union of the Comoros, a state party to the Rome Statute since 2002, has formally referred Israel's attack on the flotilla that included the MV Mavi Marmara to the ICC. The question I want to address in this post is whether the Court has jurisdiction over the flotilla attack. I think it's clear that it does...
I have now had the opportunity to read both Judge van den Wyngaert's request to be excused from the Kenyatta case and the Presidency's decision to grant that request. There is no question that workload did indeed play a role in the Judge's decision to withdraw. But it also seems clear that there was at least one other reason, as...
For the procrastinators among us, here's another friendly reminder about our New Voices Symposium coming up in July and August. As a recap, this July, we are planning to launch a new feature called New Voices: a two-month online symposium to run alongside our regular posts. Our goal is to give students, new practitioners and emerging scholars a chance to profile...
Two years ago, I wrote a long post analyzing the most serious charge in Bradley Manning's court martial -- aiding the enemy, a violation of Art. 104 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and 10 USC 904. I claimed in the post that someone like Bill Keller, the Executive Editor of the New York Times during the WikiLeaks era,...
In the wake of Obama's memorable statement, a number of bloggers have questioned whether the Boston bombings deserve to be labeled "terrorism." Most of those bloggers -- such as the excellent Ali Abuminah here -- emphasize that many US definitions of terrorism require the violent act in question to be politically or ideologically motivated, which is still an open question with regard...
With the steady stream of posts on Kiobel in the past 24 hours, you may have lost track of it all. So here is a little insta-roudup with links to all the posts we've had so far (there'll be more in the regular roundup on Saturday). To start, you can find the opinions here. Julian posted on Roberts' opinion, Kennedy's concurrence (as did...
We have invited several academic luminaries to post here at Opinio Juris over the next few days about the Supreme Court's decision in Kiobel. We also are going to try something new and invite young academics to submit guests posts for possible publication. We can't guarantee we will publish every post submitted, but we would love to broaden the discussion...
Here is the bottom line of the Roberts' opinion, which makes it sound like this whole ATS thing is really a simple application of Morrison v. National Australia Bank. On these facts, all the relevant conduct took place outside the United States. And even where the claims touch and concern the territory of the United States, they must do so with...
Apparently, the answer is yes, according to Professor Jeremi Suri of the University of Texas writing in the New York Times: The Korean crisis has now become a strategic threat to America’s core national interests. The best option is to destroy the North Korean missile on the ground before it is launched. The United States should use a precise airstrike to...
Pierre N. Leval, a well-respected judge who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, has published a full-scale no-holds-barred policy defense of the Alien Tort Statute in Foreign Affairs. The essay, which is adapted from his lecture to the New York City Bar Association, offers the standard argument in favor of the...
Are you an international law student or a recent graduate with an idea that you’d like you tell our readers about? Then we at Opinio Juris want to know about you! This July, we are planning to launch a new feature called New Voices: a two-month online symposium to run alongside our regular posts. Our goal is to give students...
