A number of students and colleagues have asked me if I believe that Usama bin Laden's killing was legal. I'm swamped with teaching and writing responsibilities, so my ability to blog is limited. But I thought I'd at least put my thoughts on record, skeletal though they may be. And I want to reply to what I think are two...
[Mary Ellen O’Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Chair in Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution—Kroc Institute. She is a Vice President at the American Society of International Law and the author of author of The Choice of Law Against Terrorism, 4 J. NAT. SEC. L. & POL’Y 2010] In his speech announcing the death of Osama...
The best lines in President Obama’s speech last night were at the beginning: It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory -- hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to...
The media is reporting that the Obama administration is handling Usama bin Laden's remains in accordance with Islamic principles. That decision is a stark reminder of why we are so fortunate that a Republican is no longer President. When the Bush administration killed Uday and Qusay Hussein, recall, it infuriated Muslims and at least arguably violated the First Additional Protocol...
Lindseth’s claim in his new book is simple, intriguing, and surely will be seen as radical by most European law scholars: the European Union (EU) should be studied as an administrative rather than a constitutional project. Instead of reading the Lisbon Treaty as Member States’ acquiescence to a European constitutional order – one in which EU law is paramount and...
Let me first thank Peter and the other members of Opinio Juris for providing this space for an online discussion of my new book. Let me also thank Ken, Francesca, and Fernanda for taking the time to offer comments. I am really looking forward to this exchange. As its title suggests, Power and Legitimacy grapples with what I see...
That question is raised by the ICC's investigation of the post-election violence in Kenya, which included a number of forcible circumcisions of Luo men. According to IRIN Africa, although the OPT originally alleged that the forcible circumcision qualified as the crime against humanity "other form of sexual violence" under Article 7(1)(g) of the Rome Statute, the Pre-Trial Chamber reclassified the...
Publicly, Israel has been nothing but critical of the Goldstone Report. Netanyahu responded to Goldstone's recent partial retraction, for example, by calling for the "twisted and nonfactual" Report to be thrown "into the dustbin of history." Behind the scenes, however, Israel has taken a different approach. According to the Jewish Press, the Report has led the IDF to adopt some very...
The San Francisco Chronicle has the story: The conference, titled "Litigating Palestine," took place at the San Francisco campus March 25 and 26. The 13 speakers - four of them Jewish, according to a school official - discussed legal issues and court cases involving Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, protests, consumer boycotts and related...
According to the Prosecutor, he needs 421 days to review 12,900 pages of documents that the Pre-Trial Chamber recently ordered him to disclose to the Ocampo Six so they can prepare for their confirmation hearings: International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has told the court he needs 421 days to review the evidence to comply with orders given last...
Sari Bashi is the Executive Director of Gisha, an Israeli NGO that protects the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. While many in the international community were unsure how to interpret Richard Goldstone's Washington Post op ed earlier this month withdrawing the allegation made in the Goldstone Report that Israel intentionally targeted civilians during the war in Gaza, within Israel,...
Luis Moreno-Ocampo wants to formally investigate crimes against humanity in Cote D'Ivoire. Cote D'Ivoire consented to the ICC's jurisdiction over crimes committed there eight years ago. So what's Moreno-Ocampo waiting for? Apparently, a state referral: "We are concerned about the recent information on massive atrocities committed in the western part of Cote d'Ivoire," he said. "We are trying to...
