A summary of yesterday's Supreme Court oral argument in Gonzalez v. O Centro is available at SCOTUSblog. The case raises concerns about the interplay of two federal statutes--the Controlled Substances Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act--and a treaty, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.From the summary it appears that the international law arguments did not hold much sway with...
Since a couple of previous posts on Judge Alito generally mentioned the topic of deference to the executive, it is useful to keep in mind that such deference, even in issues relating to foreign affairs and national security, is not always a good thing. Consider the ongoing legal struggles having to do with national security, individual rights,...
There is still more on Judge Alito and international law. It seems remarkable that one appellate court judge could be faced within the span of two years two terribly wrenching asylum applications. But Judge Alito was. As I recently posted, his decision in Chen v. Ashcroft addressed the denial of asylum to someone engaged to a person forced to undergo...
Professor Bobby Chesney of Wake Forest University School of Law will be guest blogging at Opinio Juris all month. Professor Chesney is an expert on U.S. national security law and his recent scholarship has focused on legal responses to terrorism. One of his recent papers tackles the transfer of detainees at Guantanamo to their home countries, a practice that,...
I agree that Alito's international and comparative law record is thin, but in addition to the cases Roger and Julian discuss here and here, let me add US v. Rosero, a 1994 case reversing and remanding a conviction of possession of marijuana, with intent to distribute, on a vessel "subject to the jurisdiction of the United States." The issue before...
Roger and I can now proudly boast we have provided the most comprehensive analysis of the Alito record on international and comparative law in the blogosphere. But this record is pretty thin, I have to admit. Which is why I am thankful that John Brewer, an attorney in Manhattan and a former Alito clerk, alerts me to this Alito dissent...
Many blogs start fights with other blogs, but Opinio Juris has to be unique in that we continually have knock-down battles among our regular contributors. Chris and I (to take just one example) have been fighting about international institutions like the U.N. and the ICJ since we initiated this blog almost a year ago and our disagreements show no signs...
Julian’s recent post on the work of the ICJ is interesting, in part because of its common misperceptions. I think his most recent post on the ICJ and others similar to it are inaccurate in their description of the work of the ICJ and muddled as to any prescription concerning how to ameliorate the institution. Both concerns, I...
In the mass of articles about the newest U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito, there has been very little discussion about his views on international and comparative law (Roger's post here is the great exception). This is probably because most activist groups really don't care about his views on these questions and because his paper trail in these matters...
My vote for the most important international law case of the month is Broniowski v. Poland, the ECHR decision that paves the way for "class action" human rights litigation in Europe. As discussed in my earlier post, an international tribunal in Europe may now order systemic, national relief to a class of similarly-situated claimants. The decision that launches this "pilot...
Earlier today the UN Security Council issued Resolution 1636 demanding that Syria cooperate with the Hariri investigation “or else.” OK, it didn’t really say “or else” but that was the gist of it. See a summary of main points here; UN press report here.The UN press report explained thatThe resolution called on all States to prevent the entry or transit...
A quick review of Judge Alito's decisions suggests very few that have international law implications. One recent decision that merits significant attention is Chen v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 221 (3d Cir. 2004). At issue is whether the fiancée of a woman who was forced to undergo an abortion in China is entitled to asylum.Factually the case is extraordinarily sympathetic. A...
