The NYT is running a very long expose on secret legal opinions by the Office of Legal Counsel endorsing many harsh interrogation techniques that many had believed were prohibited by prior OLC opinions and the McCain Amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act. The article paints the current OLC Chief, Steven Bradbury, as a shill for the Bush Administration by...
The U.S. State Department is really getting into this blog thing. This week, they launched their first official blog "Dipnote." (Apparently, this is short for "diplomatic note" in diplomatese). According to its first post, the State Department is "hoping to start a dialogue with the public. More than ever, world events affect our daily lives--what we see and hear, what...
The Ninth Circuit has rendered another fascinating case on the use of the political question doctrine by corporations that allegedly aid and abet international law violations. In Corrie v. Caterpillar, plaintiffs alleged numerous violations of international law against Caterpillar arising from the bulldozing by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of Palestinian homes. According to plaintiffs' complaint, Caterpillar sold the...
I've lost track of exactly how many times North Korea has announced that it has agreed to dismantle its nuclear program, but here we go again. North Korea agrees to disable all existing nuclear facilities" ...
The Ninth Circuit rendered an important decision last week regarding a class action § 1983 claim for damages for violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In Cornejo v. County of San Diego the plaintiffs argued that they could bring a § 1983 claim for monetary damages for "deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the...
Careful readers of the blog will have noticed the addition of a "linkroll" on our left sidebar several weeks ago. (Hat tip to Gordon Smith for the idea.) The feature allows us to point readers to selected items of interest (no aspirations to comprehensive coverage) that we might not get to in our regular posts. We'll hope sometimes...
Good news so far from the never-ending softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the U.S. Things are moving along very quickly. As Roger has noted, the U.S. and Canada decided to send all future disputes about softwood lumber to the London Court of International Arbitration, a group that normally hears disputes between private parties only. What is weird is...
I didn't notice this until just now, but U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kristen Silverberg set up a sort of mini-blog reviewing her activities at the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York last week. It is actually a good idea (and Silverberg cuts a far more appealing figure than one of her predecessors, John...
Peter recently criticized the new U.S. test for naturalization, arguing that instead of tinkering with the questions, it would be better "to drop the test altogether and recognize the fading distinctiveness of the national community." Wise words — ones regrettably ignored by Australia's new citizenship test, which is being widely described as "stupid," "xenophobic," and "racist":Prospective Australian citizens will...
A number of progressive bloggers are having fun with Michael Medved's new column, "Six Inconvenient Truths about the U.S. and Slavery." Much of the criticism of the right-wing radio host's column has focused on the following passage, in which Medved seems to argue that the real victims of the slave trade were the slave traders themselves, who lost much...
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) held the first of two hearings on U.S. accession to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The hearing gave the Administration its chance to elaborate on why President Bush so strongly favors U.S. accession as soon as possible. You can access the testimony of...
A federal district court in Washington has ruled that the answer is no. In Biton v. Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority, the court ruled that it had jurisdiction over the Palestinian Authority, and that recent developments do not confer sovereign immunity on defendant. The defendant argued that: We recognize that the court previously has held that [D]efendants are collaterally estopped...
