According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were 762 active hate groups in the US as of 2004, ranging from neo-Nazis to the KKK to black separatists. To date, however, the Department of Homeland Security has not issued a single Homeland Security Assessment warning us about one of those groups. It has, however, just issued the following...
In addition to my treaties obsession, I seem to be spending more and more time each year following the U.S. national pasttime – baseball. This year, in addition to the on-the-field action, attention has swirled around the question of doping – who used steroids to amplify their physical performance, when did they use it, and what should baseball do about...
I want to recommend a wonderful book written by a dear friend and occasional collaborator, Brandt Goldstein. As the title indicates, it's the remarkable — and true — story of how a group of students at Yale Law School and Harold Koh shut down Guantanamo Bay in the early 1990s, when it was being used to illegally detain a group...
Melissa Waters over at Concurring Opinions discusses Justice Kennedy's speech at the ASIL and asks, "Is there anything new to be said on the subject of the role of foreign and international law in U.S. courts?" Good question. Here are a few suggestions: For those who propose a role for foreign and international law in constitutional interpretation,...
I don't know how I missed this, but in late March prosecutors from Poland's National Remembrance Institute, a government organization that investigates communist-era crimes, filed charges against General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland's final communist leader, for unconstitutionally imposing martial law in 1981. The move, which was designed to eliminate the Solidarity movement, led to the imprisonment of tens of...
Yesterday the New York Times had a lengthy, fawning obituary of William Sloane Coffin. Coffin was an historic figure who had his share of shining moments (1961 Freedom Rider) and controversial anti-war tactics (1967 draft dodging demonstrations). While he was far too much of an establishment anti-establishmentarian for my taste, give him credit for being a minister...
The Rwandan government has appointed a commission to investigate France's role in the country's 1994 genocide. The commission, which is slated to begin work on April 16th, includes Jean de Dieu Mucyo, Rwanda's Prosecutor General and a genocide survior, as well as Brigadier General Jerome Ngendahimana, a senior officer in the Rwanda Armed Forces (FAR) during the genocide. The...
Liberal Oasis has an enlightening post about the warm relationship between the Bush administration and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea — a relationship that can only be explained by the U.S.'s interest in the country's plentiful oil reserves, given its equally plentiful political repression (emphasis in the original): Yesterday, Condi Rice stood next to Equatorial Guinea President...
In yet another interesting twist on the role of the WTO to address volatile political issues, the House of Representatives last week passed a resolution calling on Saudi Arabia to live up to its WTO commitments by ending the economic boycott of Israel. H. Con. Res. 370 provides: That it is the sense of the Congress that--(1) Saudi Arabia...
Two environmental stories worth noting: The High Court of Nigeria has ordered Shell to stop gas flaring in Delta State by 2007. The order follows an earlier decision by the High Court -- ignored by Shell, which has said that it intends to continue the practice until 2009 -- that gas flaring violates Nigerians' constitutional rights to life and dignity....
So Iran is now a member of the nuclear club. What are the ramifications of this momentous news? I do not feel competent to discuss this subject in detail, but fortunately top nuclear experts met at a Council on Foreign Relations' meeting in New York last week to discuss Iran's nuclear development and production. Here is the transcript of...
The International Court of Justice, the "principal judicial organ of the United Nations", celebrates its sixtieth anniversary today with a solemn sitting at 2:30 GMT (about the time this post goes up). What is a "solemn sitting"? I am not really sure, but various dignitaries will attend, speeches will be made, and (hopefully) cake will be eaten. ...
