I am remiss in not linking earlier to this excellent and absorbing discussion of the upcoming US Supreme Court decision in Bond v. United States at the Volokh Conspiracy. Rick Pildes at NYU is doing a nice job, but he is single-handedly taking on Professors Nick Rosenkranz, Ilya Somin, and Eugene Kontorovich on various aspects of the treaty power and...
This treaty was totally NOT on my radar screen. But as the NYT reports: More than 140 nations adopted the first legally binding international treaty on Saturday aimed at reducing mercury emissions, after four years of negotiations on ways to set limits on the use of a highly toxic metal. The treaty was adopted after all-night negotiations that followed a week of...
North Korea has said it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States. Several European leaders have criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron's demand for radical reform of the EU and promise of an "in-out" referendum on UK membership. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has decided to lift the military's ban on women serving in combat, a move...
It’s becoming a trend …. international law apps that aim to influence policy makers and engage the public. The app for “Children and Armed Conflict” (sponsored in part by the Mission of Liechtenstein) collates information on the legal framework and grave violations relevant to the effects of armed conflict on children, as well as providing recent news, background information on...
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk is stepping down in late February. UK Prime Minister David Cameron has given his long-awaited speech on UK membership of the EU, promising a referendum in 2017 if the Conservative Party wins the 2015 elections. North Korea has responded angrily to the UN Security Council Resolution condemning its December rocket launch and expanding sanctions against the state. Jordan is holding elections today under...
Former Bush State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger has a complicated op-ed arguing that the U.S. should be prepared to intervene militarily in Syria, even if its intervention is not strictly legal. His argument is complicated because he rejects the idea that any intervention in Syria now, even with the agreement of the Syrian Opposition, would violate existing international law. The escalating...
Russia is evacuating its citizens from Syria, which is interpreted as a loss of confidence in President Assad's chances of winning the civil war. The US has circulated a draft UN Security Council Resolution condemning last month's rocket launch in North Korea. The resolution has the support of China and presumably also Russia. A Japanese lawmaker is in Beijing for talks to defuse...
It was a liberal speech, but also a nationalist one. Obama returned to the citizenship theme of his DNC acceptance speech: My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride. They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope. You and I, as...
A UN report released yesterday entitled Treatment of Conflict Detainees in Afghan Custody: One Year On (report found here, press release found here) claims that Afghan authorities are still torturing prisoners, such as hanging them by their wrists and beating them with cables. A police office in Kabul has been attacked earlier today by Taliban forces, in a second attack on a government building...
Bond v. United States is one of those cases that promises both more and less than it seems. At first glance, it seems an important and fascinating case because it is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court will revisit any aspect of the famous 1920 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s decision in Missouri v. Holland. That decision, arguably the most famous...
Just a quick entry (it's late here in Tokyo) to note that the Supreme Court is going to hear the case of U.S. v. Bond, which, in effect, revisits the question of Missouri v. Holland and the scope of Congress's power to implement U.S. treaty obligations. Over at Volokh this past week, Nick Rosenkranz and Rick Pildes have been debating that constitutional...
The week on Opinio Juris started off on a lighter note with Ken's post on the Obama Administration's response to a petition to build the Death Star. And although the administration's answer encourages readers to "pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field", our comments raised the question of customary inter-stellar law. The pop cultural fun continued later with...
