Professor Schuck has graciously permitted me to post his response. Here it is: I am grateful for the comments that have been posted about my op-ed, and believe that John correctly captures my position. It is common for the law to permit finders of fact to draw inferences from conduct, including inferences that are contrary to the words used by the...
Ken has already flagged the editorial, in which Schuck -- a superb scholar who teaches at Yale -- argues that it would be constitutionally permissible to strip Faisal Shahzad's US citizenship because of his attempt to set off a car-bomb in Times Square. I'm skeptical of Schuck's argument, so I thought I'd explain why. Here are the key paragraphs: Revoking the...
I will write in more detail when I have a bit more time, but I can't let Dershowitz's ridiculously slanted and ahistorical attack on Richard Goldstone pass without comment. Sasha Polakow-Suransky, a Senior Editor at Foreign Affairs who is an expert on Israel-South Africa relations, has responded to the allegations made in the Yediot Ahronoth story Dershowitz cites, allegations that...
The New York Times is reporting that Moreno-Ocampo has offered Spain's Judge Garzon a temporary position as one of his advisors: Spain’s well-known investigating magistrate, Baltasar Garzón who is being prosecuted in a case filed by far-right Spanish groups, has been offered a temporary post as an external adviser to the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in...
There's hypocrisy, and then there's Omar al-Bashir: Sudan's justice minister has asked Interpol to arrest the leader of Darfur's most powerful rebel group, state media said on Monday, a step likely to dash hopes of progress in a faltering peace process. [snip] The Sudanese Media Centre quoted Abdel Basit Sabderat as saying the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader,...
Michael Kearney at the University of York has written a long and interesting response to Julian's post, which I have posted below to make sure people see it. I'm far from expert about the law of statehood, so I'm reluctant to comment on the international-law debate. I continue to believe, though, that accepting the Palestinian declaration would be disastrous for...
Last year, the Palestinian National Authority filed a declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. This declaration is controversial, to say the least, because it could potentially give the ICC jurisdiction over Israeli military forces operating in Gaza or the West Bank. Today, the ICC released a summary of the submissions it has received on whether the Palestinian's...
What's the only modern international or internationalized criminal tribunal that either has or had universal jurisdiction? Answer: The Special Panels in East Timor....
Julian entitled a post last week "The ICC Begins to Fade in Importance in Sudan." Julian might want to have a talk with Bashir about that: On the international summit circuit, no one can clear a room more quickly than Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Leaders have maneuvered to stay out of photographs with him, dashed ...
This seems like a nice, uncontroversial way to buttress the ICC Prosecutor's Office: ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo today announced the appointment of Professor Jose Alvarez as his Office’s Special Advisor on International Law. “Professor Alvarez is one of the leading academics in international law,” said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo. “He has written extensively on the law-making powers of international organisations and on the...
Whoops, spoke too soon about the WSJ's anti-ICC editorial. It does indeed contain a lie -- and its a doozy: What’s more, no amount of reform of the founding treaty will change the ICC’s inherent flaw. The ICC is a child of the doctrine of “universal jurisdiction,” which holds that courts can adjudicate crimes committed anywhere in the...
Adding to our already energetic discussion about the ICC and Kampala is the WSJ Editorial Board's contribution today. I share many of the editorial's skeptical views of the ICC and I think even Kevin would not find any "lies" in this article. Here is the crux of their critique, which I mostly share: From the Balkans to East Timor to the...
