Digital Commons Network^™

U.S. Trade Law And Policy At A Crossroads, John K. Veroneau

Maine Law Review

The past decade has witnessed significant changes in U.S. international trade policy. In his first presidential term, Donald J. Trump moved the United States away from long-standing policies of lowering trade barriers to facilitate global commerce and replaced them with a more restrictive version not seen since the early twentieth century. President Trump's more trade-restrictive policies were largely extended by his successor, President Joseph R. Biden. The first year of President Trump's second term has indicated a strong desire to restrict imports further in an attempt to create U.S. manufacturing jobs and reduce reliance on Chinese imports. This Article seeks …

Beyond The Loop: Accountability And The Legal Abyss Of Autonomous Weapon Systems, Ahmad Khalil, Anandha Krishna Raj S

Indonesian Journal of International Law

The emergence of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) poses unprecedented challenges to international humanitarian law (IHL), particularly in relation to criminal responsibility. This article critically examines the existing legal vacuum concerning accountability for violations committed by AWS in the context of armed conflict. By analyzing the fluid and evolving nature of military autonomy and the consequences of removing human oversight from lethal decision-making processes, the article undertakes an in-depth assessment of international criminal law (ICL) mechanisms, including direct and command responsibility. It demonstrates the inadequacy of established legal doctrines to attribute criminal liability to designers, programmers, operators, or commanders when AWS …

Social Security And The International Covenant On Human Rights: A Case Seeking The Dismissal Of Public Assistance Application Denial, Hiroshi Saito

Japanese Society and Culture

Using the case of rejection of request for medical assistance made by an undocumented resident in Japan, I considered the applicability of the International Covenant on Human Rights to social security. The central issue here is whether the distinction between Japanese nationals and foreign nationals for reasons of national finances is reasonable and objective. In conclusion, determining reasonable and objective criteria requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond legal interpretation. The process must consider broader factors, including Japan’s role in the international community and the global trend toward advancing human rights protections.

The U.S. Intervention In South Africa V. Israel At The Icj Gets A Failing Grade, Menachem Z. Rosensaft

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

No abstract provided.

The Section 301 Surge Continues: Investigating The Adoption/Enforcement/Administration Of Forced Labor Import Bans, Desiree Leclercq

Faculty Datasets

This blog post critiques the March 12, 2026, announcement by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) launching a sweeping Section 301 investigation into 60 economies—including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico—for failing to effectively prohibit forced labor imports. While the U.S. claims these regulatory failures harm domestic commerce, the author argues that the investigation highlights deep flaws in American trade governance. Specifically, the critique outlines four primary deficiencies in the U.S. approach: inadequate Customs and Border Protection (CBP) procedures lacking independent oversight, a dramatic decline in CBP enforcement actions, mistargeted pressure against the EU despite its superior evidentiary …

Rethinking Ubuntu Philosophy In Nigeria's Environmental Law: A Pathway To Sustainable Plastic Pollution Regulation, Ndubuisi Augustine Nwafor

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us, Edward Mendoza

Pace International Law Review

The beautiful city of Barcelona has an estimated population of 5.7 million. Located in the north-eastern tip of Spain, the city boasts a vibrant culture and historic past that entices people from all over the world to visit. One could spend the morning visiting the stunning La Sagrada Familia church that towers 172.5 meters (566 feet) above the ground, following that, they could cool off by swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, and finally they could finish their day by visiting the historic Spotify Camp Nou and support Barcelona FC (soccer team) along with 99,354 loyal fans. Despite these enticing tourist …

The Human Rights Fulcrum: Using Environmental Rights As Leverage For Change, Rebecca Bratspies

Pace International Law Review

“Give me a lever long enough and a firm place on which to stand and I will move the earth." That is how Archimedes famously described the power of levers and the possibility they create for moving something that otherwise seems immovable. His point was that with the use of distance, a fulcrum, and a lever, nothing is really immovable. This same characterization has been applied to human rights law, and its attempts to disrupt patterns of structural dispossession, discrimination and oppression that bedevil human society. Indeed, the metaphor that human rights are a lever for change is relatively common …

The (Non-) Protection Of Indigenous Rights In Isds, Dr. Kevin W. Gray

Pace International Law Review

International investment law largely flows from the protections afforded foreign investors under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties.  Until recently, few of these treaties required investors to comply with human rights provisions in national constitutions or in international law, or preserved the ability of states to regulate to protect constitutional rights.  As a result, critics have argued, investor-state dispute settlement fails to protect human rights or preserve the ability of states to regulate in the public interest, and that arbitral awards rarely consider, let alone give effect to, rules of human rights.

This article considers the question of how Indigenous rights, …

Decoding Chinese Law In U.S. Courts: The Logic Of Extra-Legality, Tian Xie

Pace International Law Review

U.S. courts and regulators often face challenges in interpreting Chinese law, as actual regulatory practices frequently diverge from formal legal provisions. This article argues that a strictly formalist approach that relies solely on legal text is inadequate. Instead, U.S. authorities should adopt an extra-legality framework, which considers how Chinese law functions to reinforce political authority while maintaining a legal façade. The article further illustrates the application of this approach through a case study of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA), which pro- vides a more nuanced and realistic understanding of Chinese regulatory practices surrounding U.S. access to audit work …

El Salvador At The Crossroads: Crimes Against Humanity Under The Public Security Policy, Susana L. Sacouto, Claudia Martin, Gino Costa, Santiago Canton, Jose Antonio Guevara

Research Reports & White Papers

The International Group of Experts for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations under the State of Emergency in El Salvador (GIPES) presents its final report entitled: “El Salvador at the Crossroads: Crimes against Humanity under the Public Security Policy.”

GIPES was formed with the aim of investigating the alleged serious human rights violations taking place in the context of the State of Exception public security policy that has been in place of El Salvador since March 2022 and determining whether they might constitute crimes against humanity. The group is made up of five internationally recognized jurists: Susana SáCouto, …

Transnational Private Environmental Regulation: Are States Striking Back?, Errol E. Meidinger

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 11 in Research Handbook on Environmental Regulation, David Williamson, Gary Lynch-Wood & Agne Prochorskaite, eds.

Rapid global trade expansion beginning in the 1990s spawned a parallel expansion in non-state (‘private’) environmental regulatory (PER) programs. They issue regulatory standards, monitor and judge performance, sanction poor performance, and sometimes regulate state activities. PER programs constitute extensive and complex transnational governance agglomerations encompassing environmental certification, corporate social responsibility, and environment-society-governance programs, typically intertwined with governmental and intergovernmental regulatory programs.

Using forestry and climate change examples, this article analyzes key features of PER programs, how they may be growing empirically more …

International & Constitutional Law Implications Of U.S. Attacks On Iran, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr), Floersheimer Center For Constitutional Democracy

2025–2026 Flyers

Join the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR) and Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy for a critical discussion on the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

We May Need To Run A Few More Tests: Artificial Intelligence In Medicine Is Here And What Should Happen If Dr. Robot Makes A Mistake, Jenna Hidalgo

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Steeped In Conflict: Exploring How The United States’ Ratification Of The Icescr Could Promote International Human Rights, Particularly In The Tea Industry, Phoebe Appel

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Cycle Of Violence: Transitional Justice For El Salvador In The Shadow Of Authoritarianism, Marsha Pimentel

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of Indian Bilateral Investment Treaties: Pre And Post Revision Of Model Bit, S.R. Subramanian

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Cambodia’S Campaign To Recover Its National Treasures: A Unique Model Of Collaborative Restitution, Bradley J. Gordon, Melina Antoniadis, Sokunthyda Long

Fordham Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Taking The Profit Out Of War: Why International Law Requires Restitution Of Nazi-Looted Art, Raymond J. Dowd

Fordham Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Trademarks Beyond The Dictionary: A Corpus Linguistics Approach To The International Implementation Of The Rule Of Foreign Equivalents, George Mcmullin

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court's Policy Favoring Arbitration And Its Limits, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

While the federal policy favoring arbitration is codified in the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the strength of that policy depends on the treatment that arbitration receives in federal courts and in the United States Supreme Court in particular.

Courts in all jurisdictions play an important role in fashioning the treatment of arbitration agreements, arbitral proceedings and arbitral awards. However, the judicial role in this regard is especially pronounced in the United States, in view of the problematic state of legislation on the subject. The federal legislation on arbitration is 100 years old and has never been meaningfully amended. The …

Our Eviction Court Clients Need This Treaty: The U.S. Must Finally Ratify The International Covenant On Economic, Social, And Cultural Rights, Fran Quigley

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Anyone enduring poverty in the U.S. or working with persons enduring poverty–as we do in our law school eviction clinic–is aware that housing, healthcare, food, and sufficient income are essential to human survival and dignity. Yet those basic necessities are not rights guaranteed under U.S. law. Instead, discretionary, underfunded efforts to address economic needs have led to widespread U.S. poverty and a toxic one-step-forward/one-step-backward policy dance, characterized by safety net programs expanding only to be cut when political winds shift.

The U.S. should join nearly every other nation in the world by ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and …

Lawyers’ Career Aspirations In Canada And The United States, Meghan Dawe, Ronit Dinovitzer

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

China And International Economic Dispute Settlement: Disaggregating The State, Gregory Shaffer, Ji Li, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Most studies take a unitary state-centric approach to assessing China’s relationship with international economic law. In contrast, we provide a more nuanced approach that assesses variation in China’s engagement. We examine the role of different Chinese state and non-state actors, considering their interests, ideological frames, institutional contexts, and relation to state power. We illustrate our analytic framework by examining China’s response to and engagement with international dispute settlement systems in three areas: international commercial arbitration, international trade dispute settlement, and investor–state arbitration. Our approach is important for global cooperation in discrete policy areas so that the West does not ‘other’ …

A Primer On International Agreements Relevant To Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal, Korey Silverman-Roati, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This primer provides an introduction to seven international agreements relevant to marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) research activities in the ocean. Each of these agreements has implications for whether, when, where, and how in-ocean mCDR projects will go forward. The primer is intended to provide policymakers, non-government organizations (NGOs), scientists, and others working on mCDR with an introduction to the agreements and explain their relevance to mCDR. It also offers guidance to those wishing to engage in discussions regarding mCDR under the agreements, which could help resolve open legal questions on their applicability to, and governance of, mCDR.

Gendered Harms In Armed Conflict: International Legal Responses To The Gendered Effects Of The War In Sudan, Naima Dams

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis interrogates how international law conceptualizes, prosecutes, and ultimately limits the understanding of sexual violence in contexts of war and displacement. Drawing on feminist legal theory, postcolonial critique, and ethnographic fieldwork with Sudanese women displaced in Egypt, it questions the dominant legal framing of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) as episodic, exceptional, and individualized. Instead, it reveals sexual violence as structural, continuous, and embedded in the everyday realities of racialized, gendered, and colonial harm.

Through ethnographical narratives, the study exposes how survivors' experiences often exceed the legibility frameworks of humanitarian and legal institutions, which prioritize spectacular, forensic evidence over slow, …

Stitching Up Industry Issues: Arbitration Can Offer Customized Solutions To Fashion Intellectual Property Disputes, Catherine Meng

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This comment proposes alternative dispute resolution (ADR), specifically arbitration, as a more effective mechanism for resolving fashion copyright disputes. The fashion industry has historically received limited protection for designs—primarily trademark and patent law—resulting in widespread copying and difficulty enforcing claims. In the 2017 case Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., the Supreme Court added copyright to the patchwork of protections. However, that protection is available only for aesthetic elements, not functional ones. The difficulty in distinguishing these components, along with the challenges of enforcing claims across borders and between parties with unequal bargaining power, as in Hian v. Louis …

Only Americans Left Behind: Iran’S Illegal Use Of Hostages As Political Pawns To Advance Their Foreign Policy, Ava Namazi

San Diego International Law Journal

The Islamic Republic of Iran has emerged as one of the most prominent contemporary practitioners of hostage diplomacy—a strategy rooted in the 1979 Hostage Crisis and sustained through recurring detentions of foreign nationals on fabricated security charges. The government uses innocent foreign nationals as political pawns to coerce Western states, including the United States, to release frozen Iranian assets held abroad. This Comment situates Iran’s use of hostage diplomacy within its post-revolutionary foreign policy, examining how the collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty contributed to this tactic. Additionally, this Comment will analyze the current international legal frameworks governing hostage diplomacy and …

An International Human Rights-Based Approach To Reducing Maternal Mortality And Enhancing Safe Motherhood In Africa, John Mukum Mbaku

San Diego International Law Journal

In 2015, the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) noted that almost fifteen years after the global community had agreed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which provided an important framework for economic and human development, significant progress has been made in several areas. However, the UNGA explained that many developing countries have not been able to achieve the MDGs, especially those goals related to maternal and reproductive health. Although the global maternal mortality rate has declined significantly, only 50% of pregnant women in developing countries receive the recommended minimum of four antenatal care visits. Additionally, complications suffered during pregnancy and childbirth …

Beyond The Cisg: Utilizing Unidroit Principles To Synchronize International Contract Law Beyond Sales Of Goods, Noor Albandar

San Diego International Law Journal

Modern advancements have made it easier than ever for individuals and businesses to enter into cross-border transactions. Contract law in the United States employs legal instruments such as the UCC to aid contracting parties, and international law consists of tools such as the CISG supporting cross-border contracts for the sale of goods. Such tools are important because international transactions for goods occur frequently. This Comment will examine the complexities that arise in the face of international contracts, discuss tools for uniform law that are currently utilized by various governing bodies, and propose further implementation of uniform international contract law. In …