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Trade Multilateralism And U.S. National Security: The Making Of The Gatt Security Exceptions, Mona Pinchis-Paulsen Jan 2020

Trade Multilateralism And U.S. National Security: The Making Of The Gatt Security Exceptions, Mona Pinchis-Paulsen

Michigan Journal of International Law

Today, there are an unprecedented number of disputes at the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) involving national security. The dramatic rise in trade disputes involving national security has resuscitated debate over the degree of discretion afforded to WTO Members as to when and how to invoke Article XXI, the Security Exception, of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (“GATT”), with binding effect. The goal of this article is to shed light on contemporary questions and concerns involving national security and international trade, particularly questions involving the appropriate invocation of Article XXI GATT, through careful attention to the article’s historical context. …


Different Problems Require Different Solutions: How Air Warfare Norms Should Inform Ihl Targeting Law Reform & Cyber Warfare, Christian H. Robertson Ii Jun 2019

Different Problems Require Different Solutions: How Air Warfare Norms Should Inform Ihl Targeting Law Reform & Cyber Warfare, Christian H. Robertson Ii

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

On February 19, 2018, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres claimed that he was “absolutely convinced” that “the next war will begin with a massive cyber-attack to destroy military capacity . . . and paralyze basic infrastructure.” The Secretary-General’s greatest concern, however, is that he believes “there is no regulatory scheme for that type of warfare, it is not clear how the Geneva Convention or international humanitarian law applies to it.” Although Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP I) targeting laws generally identify who and what States may target in war, it expressly limits itself to attacks affecting people …


Rescuing Policy And Terror Victims: A Concerted Approach To The Ransom Dilemma, C. Elizabeth Bundy Jan 2016

Rescuing Policy And Terror Victims: A Concerted Approach To The Ransom Dilemma, C. Elizabeth Bundy

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this Note will analyze the current framework governing hostage situations to determine the permissibility of ransom payments under international law. Part II will examine the two dominant positions that have developed among states and identify the justifications and shortcomings of each. Part III will conclude, firstly, that for states to develop a multilateral approach to hostage situations, they must take the lead within their respective domestic spheres and, secondly, that the option to negotiate for ransomed release should be preserved as an essential tool for confronting terrorist organizations.


Lost In Translation: The Accidental Origins Of Bond V. United States, Kevin L. Cope Apr 2014

Lost In Translation: The Accidental Origins Of Bond V. United States, Kevin L. Cope

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

One of the unusual features of cases about the constitutionality of federal statutes is that they are nearly always foreseeable. Even before the bill’s introduction in Congress, lawmakers are often aware that they are inviting a federal lawsuit. Anticipating a legal challenge, legislators and their staffs attempt to predict the courts’ views of the statute and adapt the bill accordingly. Generally speaking, the bigger the bill’s potential constitutional impact, the more foreseeable the resulting case. By this logic, jurists should have seen the constitutional issues in Bond v. United States from a mile away. In reality, they were foreseen by …


Trying Terrorism: Joint Criminal Enterprise, Material Support, And The Paradox Of International Criminal Law, Alexandra Link Jan 2013

Trying Terrorism: Joint Criminal Enterprise, Material Support, And The Paradox Of International Criminal Law, Alexandra Link

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will examine theoretical problems in ICL and public international law by evaluating the practical implications of applying ICL sources to find criminal liability outside the narrow confines of the international tribunals. It will examine the problems posed by the conflicting standards of the Rome Statute and ICTY jurisprudence as a matter of customary international law, the failure of U.S. courts to effectively confront the contextual and doctrinal analysis necessary to determine the limitations of these sources, and the proper application of these sources to the issues raised in Hamdan II and Al Bahlul. Viewing ICL through the lens …


Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran Jan 2013

Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran

Michigan Journal of International Law

States of emergency are today one of the most serious challenges to the implementation of international human rights law (IHRL). They have become common practice and are associated with severe human rights violations as evidenced by the Arab Spring. The international jurisprudence on states of emergency is inconsistent and divergent, and what now constitutes a public emergency is ubiquitous. This trend is underpinned by excessive judicial deference and abdication of the legal review of states' often dubious claims of a state of emergency. The legal regime, as positively expressed in international human rights treaties, does not adequately reflect the underlying …


Security Council Resolution 1887 And The Quest For Nuclear Disarmament, Usman Ahmed, Raghav Thapar Apr 2012

Security Council Resolution 1887 And The Quest For Nuclear Disarmament, Usman Ahmed, Raghav Thapar

Michigan Journal of International Law

Nuclear weapons pose an increased international threat to security in the modem era. Cheap transportation and the opening of national borders for trade have made it easy for nuclear materials to cross national boundaries. Informal networks have sprouted up, facilitating the proliferation and exchange of nuclear materials and the technology required to turn those materials into weapons. Advances in technology have made it easier to enrich uranium, instilling concerns of increased nuclear weapons proliferation. These changes in technology, the development of informal nuclear networks, and lax security in safeguarding weapons by states such as Russia and Pakistan have fueled global …


Questioning The Peremptory Status Of The Prohibition Of The Use Of Force, James A. Green Feb 2011

Questioning The Peremptory Status Of The Prohibition Of The Use Of Force, James A. Green

Michigan Journal of International Law

It is incontrovertible that the prohibition of the unilateral use of force is a fundamental aspect of the United Nations (U.N.) era system for governing the relations between states. Given this fact, the prohibition, as set out most crucially in Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter, is often seen as the archetypal example of a jus cogens norm (a "peremptory norm" of general international law). Certainly, an overwhelming majority of scholars view the prohibition as having a peremptory character. Similarly, the International Law Commission (ILC) has taken this view and it is arguable that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) …


Peace Through Law? The Failure Of A Noble Experiment, Robert J. Delahunty, John C. Yoo Apr 2008

Peace Through Law? The Failure Of A Noble Experiment, Robert J. Delahunty, John C. Yoo

Michigan Law Review

Ever since its publication in 1929, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front has been regarded as a landmark of antiwar literature. Appearing a decade after the end of the First World War, the novel became a literary sensation almost overnight. Within a year of publication, it had been translated into twenty languages, including Chinese, and by April 1930, sales for twelve of the twenty editions stood at 2.5 million. Remarque was reputed to have the largest readership in the world. Hollywood took note, and an equally successful film appeared in 1930. The success of the novel was …


The Unresolved Equation Of Espionage And International Law, A. John Radsan Jan 2007

The Unresolved Equation Of Espionage And International Law, A. John Radsan

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Essay, in order to offer up something to that appetite, is divided into five parts. After this introduction, the author, A. John Radsan, describes a Hegelian impulse, the perpetual drive to find unity in disorder. That impulse, for better or worse, creates the train and the track for many of the academy's journeys. Radsan then defines what is meant by "intelligence activities" for purposes of this Essay, after which Radsan surveys the scholarship that existed before this symposium on the relationship between espionage and international law. As the number of pages written on this topic suggests, scholarship on espionage …


Secrets And Lies: Intelligence Activities And The Rule Of Law In Times Of Crisis, Simon Chesterman Jan 2007

Secrets And Lies: Intelligence Activities And The Rule Of Law In Times Of Crisis, Simon Chesterman

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article will consider generally the prospects for an approach to intelligence activities based on the rule of law, focusing on the problem of covertness. In particular, it will examine the debate over how law should deal with crises, epitomized by the "ticking time-bomb" hypothetical. On the one hand, some call for a pragmatic recognition that, in extremis, public officials may be required to act outside the law and should seek after-the-fact ratification of their "extra-legal measures." On the other hand, others argue that the embrace of "extra-legal measures" misconceives the rule of law, underestimates the capacity of a …


State Intelligence Gathering: Conflict Of Laws, Charles H.B. Garraway Jan 2007

State Intelligence Gathering: Conflict Of Laws, Charles H.B. Garraway

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article begins with an examination of the development of the law of war (Part II) and human rights law (Part III) before looking at the differing legal categories of armed conflict (Part IV). It then examines the applicability of human rights law in situations of armed conflict (Part V) and the increasing complexity of defining violence, whether as armed conflict or otherwise (Part VI). The Article proceeds with an examination of the overlap between the law of war and human rights law (Part VII) and the risk of divergence that this overlap causes (Part VIII). Finally, it seeks to …


Averting Catastrophe: Why The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Is Losing Its Deterrence Capacity And How To Restore It, Orde F. Kittrie Jan 2007

Averting Catastrophe: Why The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Is Losing Its Deterrence Capacity And How To Restore It, Orde F. Kittrie

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article analyzes from a legal perspective the responses of the international community, and especially the Security Council, to the examples of nuclear proliferation outlined in this Article and the impact of those responses on the vitality of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. In doing so, the Article identifies and focuses on two key, interrelated themes. The first theme is the effect on these responses of the NPT's remarkably weak mechanisms for detecting violations of NPT obligations. The second theme is the frequent strong reluctance of the international community, including the Security Council, to impose serious sanctions for proliferation activity when …


Counterintuitive: Intelligence Operations And International Law, Glenn Sulmasy, John Yoo Jan 2007

Counterintuitive: Intelligence Operations And International Law, Glenn Sulmasy, John Yoo

Michigan Journal of International Law

The question before us is whether international law is useful or required to govern the covert intelligence-gathering activities of nation-states during peacetime. The very notion that international law is currently capable of regulating intelligence gathering is dubious. In fact, we suggest that international regulation of intelligence operations could have the perverse effect of making international conflict more, rather than less, likely. Certainly, there is legitimate space for coordination and cooperation between states in sharing intelligence, but such "sharing" does not involve significant needs for universal regulation by international law. Simply stated, it is not in the interests of nation-states or …


Towards A Right To Privacy In Transnational Intelligence Networks, Francesca Bignami Jan 2007

Towards A Right To Privacy In Transnational Intelligence Networks, Francesca Bignami

Michigan Journal of International Law

Privacy is one of the most critical liberal rights to come under pressure from transnational intelligence gathering. This Article explores the many ways in which transnational intelligence networks intrude upon privacy and considers some of the possible forms of legal redress. Part II lays bare the different types of transnational intelligence networks that exist today. Part III begins the analysis of the privacy problem by examining the national level, where, over the past forty years, a legal framework has been developed to promote the right to privacy in domestic intelligence gathering. Part IV turns to the privacy problem transnationally, when …


Individual And State Responsibility For Intelligence Gathering, Dieter Fleck Jan 2007

Individual And State Responsibility For Intelligence Gathering, Dieter Fleck

Michigan Journal of International Law

It is the purpose of this contribution to examine relevant norms and principles for assessing acts of intelligence gathering under international law (Part I), evaluate legal problems of attribution of such acts (Part II), and, where governments commit wrongful acts, look into circumstances precluding their wrongfulness (Part III). Based on these considerations, legal consequences for criminal accountability (Part IV) and reparation (Part V) will be discussed. Finally, some conclusions may be drawn (Part VI).


Civil Aircraft As Weapons Of Large-Scale Destruction: Countermeasures, Article 3bis Of The Chicago Convention, And The Newly Adopted German "Luftsicherheitsgesetz", Robin Geiß Jan 2005

Civil Aircraft As Weapons Of Large-Scale Destruction: Countermeasures, Article 3bis Of The Chicago Convention, And The Newly Adopted German "Luftsicherheitsgesetz", Robin Geiß

Michigan Journal of International Law

It is thus the aim of this Article to map out the international legal framework relevant for designing countermeasures against nonstate actors who convert civil aircraft into weapons of destruction. As a first step, this Article sketches out the applicable rules relating to international civil aviation security and highlights the dichotomy between nonstate actor threats and interstate threats at the base of these rules. As will be seen below, nonstate actors abusing civil aircraft as weapons of destruction is a new challenge not only in terms of destructive quality but also in a legal sense, in that the question of …


Be Reasonable! Thoughts On The Effectiveness Of State Criticism In Enforcing International Law, Michael Y. Kieval Jan 2005

Be Reasonable! Thoughts On The Effectiveness Of State Criticism In Enforcing International Law, Michael Y. Kieval

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines the effectiveness of diplomatic criticism in enforcing international law, particularly in the counter-terrorism (or anti-insurgency) context. It is not concerned with determining what international law does or does not "in fact" allow States to do in combating terrorism and other existential threats.


Legal "Black Hole"? Extraterritorial State Action And International Treaty Law On Civil And Political Rights, Ralph Wilde Jan 2005

Legal "Black Hole"? Extraterritorial State Action And International Treaty Law On Civil And Political Rights, Ralph Wilde

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article considers the significant role that extraterritorial activity is playing in the post-9/11 foreign policy of some States and the idea that this activity somehow takes place "outside" the law or, at least, outside an arena where legal norms apply as a matter of course rather than only when and to the extent that the State involved decides these norms will apply. It begins in Section II by mapping out the extraterritorial state activities conducted since 9/11, covering activities with a personalized object-such as the military action taken in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda-and activities with a spatial (territorial) object-such …


The United Nations Security Council's Quest For Effectiveness, Emilio J. Cárdenas Jan 2004

The United Nations Security Council's Quest For Effectiveness, Emilio J. Cárdenas

Michigan Journal of International Law

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York's World Trade Center Towers and Washington's Pentagon, instantly refocused the United Nations' attention on the issue of international terrorism. The Security Council (Council) responded immediately: first, on September 12, 2001, with an unequivocal condemnation of the attacks, contained in Resolution 1368 (2001), and second, on September 28, 2001, with the enactment of Resolution 1373 (2001), which, under Chapter VII of the Charter, mandated that all Member States take specific actions to combat international terrorism. Terrorism was rightly understood to be "a threat to international peace and security."


Clear And Present Danger: Enforcing The International Ban On Biological And Chemical Weapons Through Sanctions, Use Of Force, And Criminalization, Michael P. Scharf Jan 1999

Clear And Present Danger: Enforcing The International Ban On Biological And Chemical Weapons Through Sanctions, Use Of Force, And Criminalization, Michael P. Scharf

Michigan Journal of International Law

Currently there are two means of enforcing the international prohibition of chemical and biological weapons. First, the international community can induce compliance through imposition of sanctions, such as trade embargoes, freezing of assets and diplomatic isolation. Second, when sanctions fail, States can individually or collectively respond to the threat of chemical or biological weapons by using military force. After exploring the potential strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, this article examines the desirability of supplementing them with a third approach based on the criminal prosecution of persons responsible for the production, stockpiling, transfer, or use of chemical and biological weapons.


The Potential Contribution Of The Chemical Weapons Convention To Combatting Terrorism, Cecil Hunt Jan 1999

The Potential Contribution Of The Chemical Weapons Convention To Combatting Terrorism, Cecil Hunt

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper includes an identification and brief assessment of features of the CWC that could be helpful in dealing with the danger of use of chemical weapons in terrorist activity. They are presented under six headings which should be viewed as theses. For some of these theses this paper can offer little support, but points, instead, to missed opportunities and to the need for further efforts.


The Right To Self-Defense Once The Security Council Takes Action, Malvina Halberstam Jan 1996

The Right To Self-Defense Once The Security Council Takes Action, Malvina Halberstam

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article discusses the views of these commentators in the light of the language, history, and policies underlying Article 51. It concludes that the Charter was not intended to and should not be interpreted to deny a state the right of self-defense, even if the Security Council has taken measures to deal with the problem; if states are to cede their right to self-defense once the Security Council has taken measures, that should be made explicit.


Israel's Forty-Five Year Emergency: Are There Time Limits To Derogations From Human Rights Obligations?, John Quigley Jan 1994

Israel's Forty-Five Year Emergency: Are There Time Limits To Derogations From Human Rights Obligations?, John Quigley

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article analyzes the permissibility of such a derogation under the Covenant and under general international law. Part I of this article outlines the historical development of Israel's declaration of a continuous state of emergency and its justification for detention without trial. Part II examines international rules on detention and derogation. Part III establishes a standard for declaring a state of emergency and applies this standard to Israel's declaration, with respect both to Israel's own territory and to the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Finally, Part IV inquires whether Israel will apply the Covenant as a matter of domestic law.


The Role Of Human Rights In Global Securtiy Issues: A Normative And Institutional Critique, Douglas Lee Donoho Jan 1993

The Role Of Human Rights In Global Securtiy Issues: A Normative And Institutional Critique, Douglas Lee Donoho

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the institutional and normative capacity of international human rights to effectively serve such enhanced roles in global peace and security matters. In particular, the analysis focuses on key normative and institutional weaknesses in the existing U.N. human rights system and addresses their implications for the roles which human rights might serve to enhance peace. By describing some of the system's fundamental weaknesses, this analysis also indicates important areas for reform within the U.N. system.


Vital Interests And The Law Of Gatt: An Analysis Of Gatt's Security Exception, Michael J. Hahn Jan 1991

Vital Interests And The Law Of Gatt: An Analysis Of Gatt's Security Exception, Michael J. Hahn

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article will ask to what extent article XXI allows Contracting Parties to escape obligations of GATT and to what extent it should.


The Political Offense Exception As Applied In French Cases Dealing With The Extradition Of Terrorists, Thomas E. Carbonneau Jan 1983

The Political Offense Exception As Applied In French Cases Dealing With The Extradition Of Terrorists, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article does not attempt to deal with all of the multifarious aspects of contemporary terrorism; its ambition is much more modest in scope, centering upon traditional legal mechanisms and doctrines that can be adapted to deal with terrorism. Using the decisional law of France as an illustrative model, this article analyzes the transnational and political character of terrorist acts and seeks to establish the implications of those characteristics for litigation dealing with the extradition of terrorist offenders. Several assumptions underlie the analysis. First, the effort to repress international crime is seen as a laudable objective of the international legal …