In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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05 Dec

John Fonte had this piece in the National Review just before the election on the Obama's likely posture to international law and international institutions.  It very perceptively and succinctly describes the difference between liberal internationalists (think just about everybody before Bush, with the US looking to lead the rest of the world to enlightenment, along with anyone associated with the...

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04 Dec

Plaintiffs will apparently appeal yesterday's jury verdict in the Chevron ATS case. In the meantime, as we contemplate a new Administration, it's worth considering, how, if at all, USG views will shift with respect to litigation under the Alien Tort Claims Act (a.k.a. the Alien Tort Statute (ATS)). Although he offered his views in full advocacy mode for...

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03 Dec

Last month the Supreme Court rendered its latest installment on the issue of judicial supervision of national security. Winter v. NRDC has received surprisingly little attention, but it strikes me as an important example of judicial deference to the Executive Branch in military affairs. This language in particular is noteworthy: We “give great deference to the professional judgment of...

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02 Dec

Peter Raven-Hansen has a review of Jack Goldsmith's The Terror Presidency in the latest American Journal of International Law which includes some thoughts on law professors as top government lawyers.  His basic line, with John Yoo as the example: better not to use a perch in the government to validate your academic theories. But in this fact lies a risk for...

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01 Dec

Violence in Kenya following the disputed 2007 elections left more than 1,300 people dead and more than 500,000 internally displaced.  Last month, Kenya's Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence released a 527-page report -- the Waki Report -- that concluded much of the violence was planned and organized by members of Kenya's security agencies, business leaders, politicians, and government officials. ...

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28 Nov

That's the interesting argument raised in this cert. petition in Abbott v. Abbott. Although certiorari is warranted based solely on the conflict among the federal courts of appeals, certiorari also should be granted because the Fifth Circuit’s holding conflicts with the interpretation overwhelmingly adopted by the foreign courts that have addressed this issue. In construing the terms of a...

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27 Nov

Thanks Ken. Let me try to clarify again. On one level, you’re quite right: many human rights advocates believe a new system of administrative detention – beyond the criminal law and beyond the Geneva regime – is not a good idea as a matter of policy. (I hasten to add many who are not human rights advocates think...

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23 Nov

The Yale Journal of International Law (YJIL), one of the world’s leading journals of international and comparative law, is pleased to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris in this second online symposium.  This week, we will be featuring two Articles published by YJIL in Vol. 33-2, both of which are available here.  Thank you to Peggy McGuinness and the other...

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21 Nov

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting has an interesting report today on the Ugandan government's efforts to prosecute Kony and other LRA members in a special domestic court.  According to the IWPR's report, the problem is not the lack of political will, but the potential retroactivity of the legislation necessary to make the Rome Statute's core crimes -- war...

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