I thank Professors Ackerman and Golove for taking the time to respond to my earlier post on whether a future President could unilaterally withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. But I remain unconvinced by the claims they made in their original Atlantic essay that a future President's unilateral withdrawal from the Iran Deal would be "lawless". Here's why I still think they...
Professors Bruce Ackerman and David Golove argue in this Atlantic essay that the next President cannot withdraw from the Iran agreement because it is a "congressionally authorized executive agreement." They argue that Senator Marco Rubio's pledge to terminate the Iran Deal on day one "would destroy the binding character of America’s commitments to the IMF, the World Bank, NAFTA, and the World...
Well, this is a tad embarrassing for the British government. A prosecution of a Swedish national for providing support to Syrian rebels fell apart when...
Regular readers might remember a debate here and at Just Security (links here) in which I and a number of others debated whether it was perfidious for Mossad to use a booby-trapped civilian SUV to kill Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah's intelligence chief, in a Damascus suburb. I am pleased to announce that International Law Studies, the official journal of the US Naval War College,...
My colleague Anne Orford has just received -- and deservedly so -- a very significant Australian Laureate Fellowship for a program entitled Civil War, Intervention, and International Law. The program is funded by the Australian Research Council from 2015 to 2020 and will establish an interdisciplinary research team based at Melbourne Law School. Here is a snippet from the description of the program: Professor Orford’s...
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Obama has authorized U.S. military forces to use air power to defend U.S.-trained Syrian rebels if those rebels are attacked by the Syrian government forces. President Barack Obama has authorized using air power to defend a new U.S.-backed fighting force in Syria if it is attacked by Syrian government forces or other groups,...
Due to my typical mid-summer lassitude (and a family vacation among the redwoods in California), I have not participated in the excellent legal blogosphere debate over the constitutionality of the Iran Nuclear Agreement which has included contributions from Jack Goldsmith, John Yoo, Michael Ramsey, John Bellinger, David Rivkin and many others. Luckily for me, Prof. Jeffrey Rosen and the good...
In late 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor rejected a request by Comoros to open a formal investigation into Israel's attack on the Mavi Marmara. To my great surprise, the Pre-Trial Chamber (Judge Kovacs dissenting) has now ordered the OTP to reconsider its decision. The order does not require the OTP to open a formal investigation, because the declination was based...
I don't have a profound take on the Iran Deal (full text here) announced today between Iran and the P-5+1 leading world powers. From my understanding of this agreement, I am doubtful it will work out to benefit the U.S. and the E.U., but I don't feel particularly strongly on this point. There are more than enough commentators out there who...
Ryan -- friend of Opinio Juris and friend of Kevin -- has been appointed Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense. Here is a snippet from NYU's press release: In his new role at the Department of Defense Goodman will focus primarily on national security law and law of armed conflict. “I am very humbled to have...
Laurie Blank published a post yesterday at Lawfare entitled "The UN Gaza Report: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose." The post accuses the Independent Commission of Inquiry's report on Operation Protective Edge ("Gaza Report") of "completely undermin[ing] the foundational notion of equal application of the law" with regard to three areas of IHL: warnings, civilian vs military objects, and compliance. None of Blank's...
We are very sorry to mark the passing of Professor Michael W. Lewis of Ohio Northern University. Mike spoke and wrote with rare authority as someone who was not only a leading international law and national security scholar who engaged in broader public discourse (see his many debates, presentations, and interviews), but also as a former Naval aviator and TOPGUN graduate,...
