It was wonderful to be in Philadelphia to participate in the APSA Roundtable on International Tribunals. The presentations by Allison Danner, Kal Raustiala, Larry Helfer, Jeff Dunoff, Julian Ku, Tom Lee, and Tomer Broude were all superb. I wish each of the speakers had twice as much time. And, of course, drinks at the Continental were a...
In his most recent post, Professor Bell quotes Ken Roth's comment in the New York Sun that Israel's behavior in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict reflects an "[a]n eye for an eye - or more accurately in this case twenty eyes for an eye — [which] may have been the morality of some more primitive moment." Professor Bell then asserts that...
Comoros and Saint Kitts & Nevis have formally acceded to the Rome Statute, becoming the 101st and 102nd members of the ICC. Saint Kitts & Nevis is the 23rd country in the Americas to join the Court; Cormoros is the 28th country in Africa. ...
Rosa Brooks' editorial is a must-read. It is also a non-sequitur. The New York Sun attacked Ken Roth as an anti-Semite for Roth's remark that Israel's behavior was an "[a]n eye for an eye - or more accurately in this case twenty eyes for an eye — [which] may have been the morality of some more primitive moment." Whether Mr. Roth...
Rosa Brooks has a must-read editorial in the Los Angeles Times today on the savage, ad hominem, and counter-productive criticism directed at Human Rights Watch and its director, Ken Roth, over the organization's work on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict: EVER WONDER what it's like to be a pariah? Publish something sharply critical of Israeli government policies and you'll find out. If you're lucky,...
My vote for the most important international case for the month of August is Sarei v. Rio Tinto. I have already given you my quick read of the case here. So I have invited one of the leading international environmental law professors to give his take on this important case. Here is what John Knox of Wake...
I hope readers have enjoyed the “virtual roundtable.” If you happen to be in Philadelphia for the APSA meeting, we’re hosting a happy hour tomorrow night from 5:30-7:30 at the Continental Midtown. The Continental Midtown is centrally located at 1801 Chestnut St. If you can't find us, ask the maitre d' to point out where the APSA happy...
Julian’s thoughtful post can be located within a larger literature that states “nationalist” objections to domestic court use of international tribunal decisions. One underexplored question in this literature is whether nationalists should ever support domestic court use of international decisions. Another is whether internationalists (i.e., those typically sympathetic to international norms and bodies) should ever oppose domestic court...
Just a quick note to point out that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a potentially important decision Tuesday rejecting what it suggested would be an impermissible delegation of administrative authority to decisionmaking bodies created by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. (This decision would be worth noting even if it...
I'm very grateful to Tomer Broude (travel safely, Tomer!) both for organizing this APSA roundtable as well as suggesting this online "preview." I've enjoyed all of the terrific contributions of the APSA attendees and look forward to hashing some of these questions out in person on Friday. Indulging my prerogative as a co-host (at least in the blogosphere),...
New Zealand is a remarkably progressive country when it comes to immigration issues. Exhibit A: the government has recently offered permanent residence to Zimbabweans living in New Zealand who fled the Mugabe regime, even those who are HIV+: Yesterday the Government urged hundreds of Zimbabweans who fled the Mugabe regime to come forward and apply for permanent residency under a...
In his Roundtable Post, Kal Raustiala raises questions relating to one important aspect of the design of international tribunals: who get's the ball rolling, or in other words - who has standing and the right to bring a suit to the tribunal. I agree with his basic distinction between private actors as "fire alarms" (or whistle blowers) and states as...
