I used to think that ICJ advisory opinions, like the July 9, 2004 ICJ opinion finding Israel's separation wall a violation of international law, didn't have much legal significance. But maybe I'm wrong. The ICJ opinion does open up a new avenue to pressure the Israeli Government - sue or boycott corporations for complicity in Israel's alleged human...
As was widely reported in the media, Khamis al-Obeidi, a defense attorney for Saddam and his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim, was murdered two weeks ago. Al-Obeidi is the third defense attorney to be killed during the trial. Human Rights Watch has released a statement regarding the need to protect defense counsel — current and future — appearing before the Iraqi High...
I noted last week that the special prosecutor investigating past government abuses in Mexico, Ignacio Carrillo Prieto, had finally succeeding in indicting former president Luis Echeverria on genocide charges. His success was short-lived: a judge dismissed the charges yesterday on the ground that they violated Mexico's statute of limitations for genocide. This latest setback for the special prosecutor is...
It’s no secret that the Bush Administration has little love for treaties, and I’d expect the Supreme Court’s recent pronouncements will do little to improve that outlook. Still, it’s worth recalling that the Bush Administration does not view all treaties as fatally flawed. There are a few (increasingly rare?) exceptions. For example, on Wednesday the United States and Switzerland became...
Volokh Conspiracy contributor David Kopel has a provocative op-ed in the WSJ($) today alleging that, despite their denials, the U.N.-sponsored Small Arms Conference really does want to ban all guns. The U.N. has long urged that firearms must never be transferred to "non-state actors" -- that is, entities which are neither governments nor government-approved. Only John Bolton's intransigence prevented the...
As best I can tell from a cursory read of the recent New York Court of Appeals same-sex marriage case of Hernandez v. Robles, there is no mention of comparative experiences in other countries. Save one. And it comes from Judge Kaye in dissent. Here it is: The State asserts an interest in maintaining uniformity with the marriage...
John Yoo has a predictably critical L.A. Times op-ed today on Hamdan. The piece trots out the Lincoln and FDR comparisons, and argues that the decision will “hamper the ability of future presidents to respond to emergencies.” The analysis is no more persuasive than previous defenses of the Administration’s anything-goes approach. It may be true that the...
I wanted to offer one final post on Hamdan. Robert Araujo at Mirror of Justice as this interesting post on Hamdan and the use of comparative and international law: I am sure I join many others who are still working their ways through the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision. At this stage I would like to make a brief observation about...
Today is the one year anniversary of the July 7 bombings in London. I came across these award-winning haiku commemorating the London bombings. While I do not normally post something like this, I thought you might find them appropriate for the occasion: sounds of war:the morning appletastes bitter Carlos Fleitas, UY Blasts in London—a pigeon flies from...
Amnesty International is considering taking on abortion rights as part of its portfolio. A good summary and critique of the development can be found in this article in the center-right Spectator. The prospect is causing chagrin among conservatives and Catholic members of Amnesty. (The organization was founded by an English Catholic lawyer in 1961.) The controversy shows how...
Given that Walter Dellinger has described Hamdan v. Rumsfeld as the "the most important decision on presidential power ever" I guess it would come as little surprise that I would vote for Hamdan as the most important case for the month of June. Although I seriously doubt Dellinger's conclusion is correct, I do predict that the decision will have...
There is an Atlantic Monthly crew doing some good blogging out of this week's Aspen Ideas Festival. The most interesting entry so far reports on a session (with University of Chicago lawprof Dennis Hutchinson) on how Harry Blackmun was influenced by Aspen seminars; one can imagine similar history thirty years from now looking at how international conference travel figured...
