In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Organizations

17 Sep

One of the most remarkable aspects of how conservative U.S. scholars approach international law is their absolute certainty that the American position on extraordinarily difficult issues is always correct.  Consider, for example, Jack Goldsmith's articulation today of when the UN Charter permits the U.S. to use force in self-defense against non-state actors: If the president is authorized to use force against...

|
13 Sep

Like Julian, I can't find the text of a "report" per se, but I did find this on the Human Rights Council's website: GENEVA (13 September 2011) – Commenting on the report of the Panel of Inquiry on the flotilla incident of 31 May (Palmer Report), released this month, a group of United Nations independent experts* criticized its...

|
12 Sep

As I noted in my previous post, the CMCR's opinion in al-Bahlul repeatedly cites the Nuremberg-era crime of criminal membership in defense of its belief that material support for terrorism and conspiracy qualify as war crimes.  I continue to believe that the best counter-arguments to that idea are (1) that criminal membership was not a war crime at Nuremberg (the...

|
10 Sep

I've received a number of emails arguing that I do not take seriously enough the CMCR's analogy between conspiracy and the crime of membership in a criminal organization.  The obvious response is that: (1) criminal membership is not a war crime; (2) the elements of conspiracy and criminal membership are completely different; (3) the tribunals on which the CMCR relied...

|
05 Sep

Against my better judgment, I read the 11th Circuit's opinion in Mamani v. Berzain, the Bolivian ATS case.  I say against my better judgment because reading American judges on international law is kind of like listening to Kevin Costner play Robin Hood -- you vaguely recognize the referent, but it is still painful to the ear.  It's bad enough that...

|
05 Sep

The Globe & Mail has a blockbuster report today concerning China's willingness to supply weapons to Gaddafi's regime during the rebellion: China offered huge stockpiles of weapons to Colonel Moammar Gadhafi during the final months of his regime, according to papers that describe secret talks about shipments via Algeria and South Africa. Documents obtained by The Globe and Mail...

|
04 Sep

A February 2010 cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv to the State Department concerning a discussion with the IDF's Military Advocate General about the Palestinian Authority's request for the ICC to investigate Operation Cast Lead contains the following remarkable paragraph (emphasis added): Summary: IDF Military Advocate General Mandelblit updated the Ambassador on February 17 on the progress of investigations...

|
03 Sep

David Bernstein has a pointless "gotcha" post at Volokh Conspiracy today in which he argues that the Palmer Report somehow contradicts my claim that blockade is only permissible in international armed conflict (IAC), whether between states or between a state and an insurgent group recognized as a belligerent.  Here it is in full: Kevin Jon Heller of University of Melbourne and...

|
02 Sep

As Julian noted earlier today, the UN's Palmer Committee has released its report on the Mavi Marmara incident, concluding that Israel's actions regarding the ship were were excessive and unreasonable, but that the blockade of Gaza itself is legal. I have questioned the legality of the blockade before, leading two readers to claim that the Palmer Committee's report contradicts my...

|
23 Aug

Time has an interesting article up about Saif's reappearance in Tripoli.  The whole thing is well worth a read, but I was struck by these paragraphs about the ICC: The rebels were not the only ones whose credibility was in doubt on Tuesday. So too was that of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which has indicted...

|
21 Aug

David Bosco has an essay at Foreign Policy arguing that the current financial and security crises, rather than weakening international intitutions, are strengthening them.  In short, there are so few options, that leaders are turning to international organizations and relying on them. But there may also be a more fundamental shift that is occurring in international economic policymaking: ...

|
29 Jul

I want to call readers' attention to Douglas Guilfoyle's article "The Mavi Marmara Incident and Blockade in Armed Conflict," which is forthcoming in the British Year Book of International Law.  (Subscription required.)  It's absolutely superb -- comprehensive, analytic, and above all fair.  Indeed, its conclusions differ in important ways from those of the UN HRC report, the Turkel Commission inquiry...

|