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A Return To Coercion: International Law And New Weapon Technologies, Jeremy Rabkin, John Yoo

Hofstra Law Review

In recent years, the U.S. has threatened air strikes against Syria and insisted on the possibility of air strikes against Iran, in both cases to deter development of weapons of mass destruction. Such threats represent a return to the idea that international law allows states to impose punitive measures by force. Most academic specialists claim that the UN Charter only authorizes force in immediate self-defense. Many commentators embrace the related doctrine that lawful force can only be exercised against the opposing military force. But there remains more logic in the older view, that international law authorizes force for a wider …

Pandemic Disease, Biological Weapons, And War, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Over the past two decades, concern about the threat posed by biological weapons has grown. Biowarfare is not new. But prior to the recent trend, the threat largely centered on state use of such weapons. What changed with the end of the Cold War was the growing apprehension that materials and knowledge would proliferate beyond industrialized states’ control, and that “rogue states” or nonstate actors would acquire and use biological weapons. Accordingly, in 1993 senators Samuel Nunn, Richard Lugar, and Pete Dominici expanded the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program to assist the former Soviet republics in securing biological agents and weapons …

War Is Governance: Explaining The Logic Of The Laws Of War From A Principal-Agent Perspective, Eyal Benvenisti, Amichai Cohen

Michigan Law Review

What is the purpose of the international law on armed conflict, and why would opponents bent on destroying each other’s capabilities commit to and obey rules designed to limit their choice of targets, weapons, and tactics? Traditionally, answers to this question have been offered on the one hand by moralists who regard the law as being inspired by morality and on the other by realists who explain this branch of law on the basis of reciprocity. Neither side’s answers withstand close scrutiny. In this Article, we develop an alternative explanation that is based on the principal–agent model of domestic governance. …

Nuclear Weapons, Elephants, Israel And The World Court, James J. Friedberg

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The International War Against Doping: Limiting The Collateral Damage From Strict Liability, Thomas W. Cox

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the World Anti-Doping Code are largely considered the model for an effective and well-coordinated antidoping regime. This model has allowed numerous sports and various countries to secure the same rules for domestic and international athletes. Within this regime, strict liability for prohibited substances stands as the "cornerstone." Strict liability has allowed antidoping officials to prosecute doping violations through an effective testing regime. However, this principle occasionally implicates innocent athletes with no intention of performance enhancement. This Note proposes that WADA modify its criteria for including substances on the Prohibited List and suspend strict liability …

The Unconstitutionality Of Religious Vilification Laws In Australia: Why Religious Vilification Laws Are Contrary To The Implied Freedom Of Political Communication Affirmed In The Australian Constitution, Augusto Zimmerman Dr.

BYU Law Review

This article explains the weakness of the argument that religious vilification laws promote harmony and tolerance among religious groups. Rather, they are based on a form of postmodern theory that denies the existence of truth and could be used as a weapon by certain individuals to silence any criticism of their beliefs. These laws have become an invitation to people with extreme views to avoid debate by claiming that they, rather than their beliefs, have been attacked. The author then explains the philosophical underpinnings of religious vilification laws and argues that there is no a priori reason why religious speech …

Duck-Rabbits And Drones: Legal Indeterminacy In The War On Terror, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the days and weeks immediately following the 9/11 attacks, “the law” offered little to lawyers or policy-makers looking for guidance. Indeed, for many the events of 9/11 became the legal equivalent of a Rorschach test: depending on the observer, the 9/11 attacks were variously construed as criminal acts, acts of war, or something in between, thus fitting into (or triggering) any of several radically different legal regimes.

Divergent interpretations of the law are common, of course. Legal rules often contain an element of ambiguity, and the “facts” to which law must be applied can frequently be construed in multiple …

Capital Defenders As Outsider Lawyers, Kathryn A. Sabbeth

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reframing Domestic Violence As Terrorism Or Torture, Isabel Marcus

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Darfur Name Game: Use Of Realpolitik By The United Nations In Decision-Making And Intervention, Angela Overton

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Violence has plagued the westernmost region of Sudan, known as Darfur, since 2003. The conflict contains elements of political and ethnic divisiveness, desertification, and resource scarcity. The violence there continues to date. Many have declared genocide in Darfur while others maintain that the conflict is instead a crime against humanity. The labeling of the conflict is critical because this process determines the interventions available. This paper focuses on the decision-making process of the United Nations and its Security Council to determine if the labeling of the conflict impacted the discourse and intervention decisions by those bodies. Discourse analysis results indicate …

Marshalling The Forces Of Good: Religion And The Fight Against Human Trafficking, Roza Pati

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

This paper finds its inspiration in the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church that also addresses "the brethren of other Churches and Ecclesial communities, ... the followers of other religions, as well as. . . all people of good will, who are committed to serving the common good." Elated by a sign of our time, the openness for dialogue amongst religions and their understanding of the urgent need for a joining of their forces to promote justice, fraternity, peace and human development, this paper does not aim at praising or blaming one religion over another, but looks at the issues …

Some Thoughts On Technology And The Practice Of Law, Fredric I. Lederer

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Judging Leaders Who Facilitate Crimes By A Foreign Army: International Courts Differ On A Novel Legal Issue, Mugambi Jouet

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In one of the most significant cases in the history of international criminal law, Prosecutor v. Perisic, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) effectively addressed an issue of first impression: may a military or political leader be convicted for knowingly facilitating crimes by another state's army? The influential tribunal answered this question in the negative--knowledge that the recipients of military assistance are perpetrating crimes is essentially irrelevant absent evidence that the facilitator specifically intended that crimes occur. The ICTY Appeals Chamber thus acquitted Serbian General Momilo Peridid, who had been convicted at trial of knowingly aiding and …

The Dehumanization Of International Humanitarian Law: Legal, Ethical, And Political Implications Of Autonomous Weapon Systems, Markus Wagner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the future, a growing number of combat operations will be carried out by autonomous weapon systems (AWS). At the operational level, AWS would not rely on direct human input. Taking humans out of the loop will raise questions of the compatibility of AWS with the fundamental requirements of international humanitarian law (IHL), such as the principles of distinction and proportionality, as well as complicate allocation of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

This Article addresses the development toward greater autonomy in military technology along three dimensions: legal, ethical, and political concerns. First, it analyzes the potential dehumanizing …

Manifest Illegality And The Icc Superior Orders Defense: "Schuldtheorie" Mistake Of Law Doctrine As An Article 33(1)(C)Panacea, Lydia Ansermet

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

While the Anglo-American and international legal systems adhere to the rule that "a mistake of the law excuses no one," German Schuldtheorie mistake of law doctrine provides for a mistake of law excuse if a defendant's mistaken belief in the lawfulness of his conduct was unavoidable. In a distinct but increasingly overlapping area of law, domestic and international legal systems provide defenses for subordinates acting in obedience to superior orders. At the international level, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court allows defendants charged with war crimes to invoke the defense of superior orders if the command obeyed was …

Legal Phantoms In Cyberspace: The Problematic Status Of Information As A Weapon And A Target Under International Humanitarian Law, Jack M. Beard

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Reports of state-sponsored harmful cyber intrusions abound. The prevailing view among academics holds that if the effects or consequences of such intrusions are sufficiently damaging, international humanitarian law (IHL) should generally govern them--and recourse to armed force may also be justified against states responsible for these actions under the jus ad bellum. This Article argues, however, that there are serious problems and perils in relying on analogies with physical armed force to extend these legal regimes to most events in cyberspace. Armed conflict models applied to the use of information as a weapon and a target are instead likely to …

Addressing Racial And Hate-Based Discrimination As Experienced By African Immigrants And Refugees In Waterloo Region, Canada, Alicja K. Muszynski, Sadia Gassim

Journal of Hate Studies

Since the early 1990s, the demographics of Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) have changed dramatically. Early settlement patterns reflected “chain migrations” of Mennonite farm families moving to the region from Pennsylvania. Subsequent establishment of three urban clusters with German and British roots resulted in a predominantly White regional and Canadian population. A relaxation of Canadian immigration legislation, together with political unrest in many African countries, led to African immigrants and refugees choosing to settle in the Tri-Cities of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge. Canada has an international reputation as a welcoming country that celebrates diversity. However, the public view that multiculturalism is …

Life And Legal Fiction: Reflections On Margaret Montoya's Máscaras, Trenzas, Y Greñas, Natsu Taylor Saito

Faculty Publications By Year

This essay is based on a presentation made as part of “Un/Masking Power: The Past, Present, and Future of Marginal Identities in Legal Academia,” a symposium sponsored by the UCLA Chicana/o-Latina/o Law Review, April 5, 2013.

Treaty Termination And Historical Gloss, Curtis A. Bradley

Faculty Scholarship

The termination of U.S. treaties provides an especially rich example of how governmental practices can provide a “gloss” on the Constitution’s separation of powers. The authority to terminate treaties is not addressed specifically in the constitutional text and instead has been worked out over time through political-branch practice. This practice, moreover, has developed largely without judicial review. Despite these features, Congress and the President—and the lawyers who advise them—have generally treated this issue as a matter of constitutional law rather than merely political happenstance. Importantly, the example of treaty termination illustrates not only how historical practice can inform constitutional understandings …

Double Take: The Law Of Embezzled Lives, Joanna L. Grossman, Lawrence M. Friedman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This essay is about double lives and role-playing in law and society when and why it occurs, how the law responds to it, and its social meaning or significance.

The authors discuss situations in light of many examples, where it is (or was) considered wrong or illegal to live two lives; or where the "false" life is a lie of the type that would be considered gravely and impermissibly deceptive.

Doe V. Wilmington Housing Authority: The Common Area Caveat As A Paradigmatic Balance Between Tenant Safety And Second Amendment Rights, Iyen Acosta

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Resolving The Original Sin Of Bolling V. Sharpe, Gregory Dolin

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bond V. United States: Concurring In The Judgment, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Bond v. United States presented the deep constitutional question of whether a treaty can increase the legislative power of Congress. Unfortunately, a majority of the Court managed to sidestep the constitutional issue by dodgy statutory interpretation. But the other three Justices—Scalia, Thomas, and Alito—all wrote important concurrences in the judgment, grappling with the constitutional issues presented. In particular, Justice Scalia’s opinion (joined by Justice Thomas), is a masterpiece, eloquently demonstrating that Missouri v. Holland is wrong and should be overruled: a treaty cannot increase the legislative power of Congress.

What Would Zero Look Like? A Treaty For The Abolition Of Nuclear Weapons, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Nuclear disarmament-the comprehensive, universal, and permanent abolition of all nuclear weapons, pursuant to a verifiable, legally binding international agreement-has long been one of the most ambitious, controversial, and urgent items on the agenda for arms control. To date, however, most of the discussion of "getting to zero" has highlighted the political, military, technical and diplomatic dimensions of this complex problem, and there has been relatively little attention to the legal requirements for drafting such a novel treaty.

This Article fills that gap by offering two proposed agreements. The first, a non-legally-bindingfr amework accord, would be designedf or signature relatively soon …

Nuclear Kellogg-Briand Pact: Proposing A Treaty For The Renunciation Of Nuclear Wars As An Instrument Of National Policy, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article performs three functions. First, it offers a revisionist interpretation of the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, the much-maligned treaty through which the key powers of the era, led by the United States, undertook to “outlaw” war, renouncing it as a tool of national policy and committing themselves to resort exclusively to pacific means for the resolution of their international disputes. Because of Kellogg-Briand’s inability to prevent the outbreak of World War II, the treaty has been derided for decades as a futile, utopian illusion, but this article argues that it was, in fact, a tremendous success in altering states’ attitudes …

Inhibiting Intrastate Inequalities: A Congressional Approach To Ensuring Equal Opportunity To Finance Public Education, Joshua Arocho

Michigan Law Review

What is the purpose of the international law on armed conflict, and why would opponents bent on destroying each other’s capabilities commit to and obey rules designed to limit their choice of targets, weapons, and tactics? Traditionally, answers to this question have been offered on the one hand by moralists who regard the law as being inspired by morality and on the other by realists who explain this branch of law on the basis of reciprocity. Neither side’s answers withstand close scrutiny. In this Article, we develop an alternative explanation that is based on the principal–agent model of domestic governance. …

Book Review: The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security By Ann Hagedorn, Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This review discusses Ann Hagedorn's book, which addresses the post-millennial proliferation of arms-bearing contractors that has roiled the human rights community and catalyzed a global conversation about the nature and future of modern warfare. Hagedorn’s perspective and insights on arms bearing contractors, democracies, and empires—intensely personal, yet thoughtfully cognizant of policy, political theory, and philosophy—should interest readers new to the field, as well as those well versed in the issues. Outsourcing the use of force is sufficiently important to the future of democratic states that this book—as well as the growing corpus of literature it adds to—merits serious contemplation.

Resolving The Original Sin Of Bolling V. Sharpe, Gregory Dolin

All Faculty Scholarship

On May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court handed down two decisions that for the first time categorically held that racial segregation in public schools was per se unlawful – Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe. Ostensibly, both cases dealt with a same question; however, in Brown the entity accused of discrimination was a creature of the State of Kansas, while in Bolling the discrimination was practiced by the federal government. The problem that the Supreme Court faced was the language of the Fourteenth Amendment, which, by its own terms, guaranteed “equal protection of the laws” only vis-à-vis …

Civil Cyberconflict: Microsoft, Cybercrime, And Botnets, Janine S. Hiller

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

Cyber “warfare” and hackback by private companies is a hot discussion topic for its potential to fight cybercrime and promote cybersecurity. In the shadow of this provocative discussion, Microsoft has led a concerted, sustained fight against cybercriminals by using traditional legal theories and court actions to dismantle criminal networks known as botnets. This article brings focus to the role of the private sector in cybersecurity in light of the aggressive civil actions by Microsoft to address a thorny and seemingly intractable global problem. A botnet is a network of computers infected with unauthorized code that is controlled from a distance …

Long On Rhetoric, Short On Results: Agile Methods And Cyber Acquisitions In The Department Of Defense, Daniel E. Schoeni Usaf

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

Cyber warfare has arrived. The Department of Defense (DoD) is under attack, and our security is at stake. Yet in a field defined by its rapid growth, the DoD arms itself at the same pace that that it buys major weapons systems, an acquisition cycle of 7–10 years. It thus buys obsolete cyber-defense tools. The “arsenal of democracy” has already provided us the tools for overcoming this impediment in the form of agile software-development methods. Yet the DoD has been reluctant to set aside decades of experience and utilize different methods for software than it does for other acquisitions. But …