In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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04 Feb

The ICJ has issued a judgment in the case Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v. Ukraine). At first glance the issue may seem relatively dry: whether Serpents' Island in the Black Sea is an inhabited island or just a rocky outcropping. But the answer to this question affects maritime delimitation lines, which in turn resolves which country has the right to...

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04 Feb

The Second Circuit last week rendered another important ATS decision addressing some of the most troublesome issues relating to human rights litigation against corporate defendants. In the case of Abdullahi v. Pfizer, the Second Circuit was faced with the question of whether involuntary medical testing on humans violates international law. Perhaps the most significant part of the decision was the...

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02 Feb

Although prospects of a marriage remain somewhat fanciful, if the ASIL Task Force on U.S. Policy Toward the International Criminal Court has its way, the Obama Administration will take steps to engage with the ICC in a much more positive way than the Bush Administration.  The Task Force issued a press release today, proposing several significant shifts in U.S. policy. ...

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29 Jan

[Patrick Keenan is Associate Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law] I’m grateful to the folks from VJIL and here at Opinio Juris for the chance to share a few thoughts about my article. My aim in this article is to try to broaden the way that scholars and policymakers think about sovereign wealth funds. The standard fear about...

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29 Jan

OK, it only violates international trade law obligations, but that's not nothing!  Specifically, the stimulus package recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives contains a number of "buy American" requirements for the purchase of steel by recipients of the stimulus.  The EU is already getting set to challenge these provisions at the WTO, if they make it into U.S....

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27 Jan

[Vlad Perju is Assistant Professor of Law at Boston College Law School] I thank Opinio Juris and the editors of the Virginia Journal of International Law for providing this forum to discuss my recent article on Reason and Authority in the European Court of Justice. I am also grateful to Oliver Gerstenberg for kindly agreeing to comment. I start this project...

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26 Jan

The Virginia Journal of International Law is delighted to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris this week in this online symposium featuring three articles recently published by VJIL in Vol. 49:2, available here. On Tuesday, Professor Vlad Perju of the Boston College Law School will discuss his article Reason and Authority in the European Court of Justice. Professor Perju’s article...

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23 Jan

Yesterday Barack Obama signed an Executive Order directing an immediate review of al-Marri's status. "The Review shall expeditiously determine the disposition options with respect to al-Marri and shall pursue such disposition as is appropriate." So what should the Supreme Court do with the al-Marri case now? As I noted earlier this month, Obama essentially has the choice...

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21 Jan

Philippe Sands and Dahlia Lithwick have kindly responded to my post about CAT and the prosecution of torture suspects.  Here is their response: We don't believe we are in disagreement on the approach to the obligation under CAT, under Articles 7(1) and (2). The obligation is to "submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution". What happens...

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21 Jan

One other added benefit of the upcoming Obama years (and there are likely to be few)  is the end of the dishonest or at least inaccurate charges about the radical nature of the Bush Administration's views on executive powers.  The most annoying one that I've heard a million times from Keith Olbermann but also from otherwise intelligent and respectable constitutional...

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