Digital Commons Network^™

The Secret "Kill List" And The President, Kenneth Anderson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Law And Ethics For Autonomous Weapon Systems: Why A Ban Won't Work And How The Laws Of War Can, Kenneth Anderson, Matthew Waxman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Stanford University, The Hoover Institution (Jean Perkins Task Force on National Security and Law Essay Series) American University Washington College of Law Research Paper No. 2013-11 Columbia Public Law Research Paper 13-351 Abstract: Public debate is heating up over the future development of autonomous weapon systems. Some concerned critics portray that future, often invoking science-fiction imagery, as a plain choice between a world in which those systems are banned outright and a world of legal void and ethical collapse on the battlefield. Yet an outright ban on autonomous weapon systems, even if it could be made effective, trades whatever risks …

Restrain “Risky Business”: Treat High-Risk Private Security Contractors As Inherently Governmental, Charles Tiefer

All Faculty Scholarship

Should Congress limit private security contractors ("PSCs") in wartime by declaring that high-risk activities are "inherently governmental"? In government contracting law, private contractors are not permitted to conduct activities deemed inherently governmental. As a result, only governmental actors may perform those functions. The role of PSCs in war zones raises a number of questions as to where the line exists, in determining what is, or is not, within this classification. Traditionally, the government draws the line at combat and combat-related activities—only these functions are inherently governmental. This Article argues that the line should instead be drawn at "high-risk" activities, which …

Promoting The General Welfare: Legal Reform To Lift Women And Children In The United States Out Of Poverty, Jill C. Engle

Faculty Scholarship

American women and children have been poor in exponentially greater numbers than men for decades. The problem has historic, institutional roots which provide a backdrop for this article’s introduction. English and early U.S. legal systems mandated a lesser economic status for women. Despite numerous legal changes aimed at combating the financial disadvantage of American women and children, the problem is worsening. American female workers, many in low-paying job sectors, earn roughly twenty percent less than their male counterparts. Nearly forty percent of single mothers and their children subsist below the poverty level. The recession exacerbated this problem, mostly because unemployment …

Disaster Tradeoffs: The Doubtful Case For Public Necessity, Susan S. Kuo

Faculty Publications

When government takes private property for a public purpose, the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires just compensation. Courts, however, have long recognized an exception to takings law for the destruction of private property when necessary to prevent a public disaster. In those circumstances, unless the state accepts an obligation to pay damages, individuals must bear their own losses. This Article contends that the public necessity defense should be rejected. First, the tight time frame and limited options typical in a disaster response threaten to obscure the crucial role of government in planning for disasters and mitigating vulnerability. Second, …

Non-State Actors In The Middle East: A Challenge For Rationalist Legal Theory, Jeremy Telman

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Wargaming The Arab Spring: Predicting Likely Outcomes And Planning U.N. Responses, Hannibal Travis

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Applicability Of The Duress Defense To The Killing Of Innocent Persons By Civilians, Sarah J. Heim

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Need For International Laws Of War To Include Cyber Attacks Involving State And Non-State Actors, Christopher D. Deluca

Pace International Law Review Online Companion

This article argues that existing international laws of war are inadequate and need to be adjusted and clearly defined to include cyber attacks involving state and non-state actors. Part II of this article describes the different forms and increasing use of cyber attacks in international conflicts. Part III focuses on the importance and relevance of non-state actors in the international community and today’s asymmetric battlefield. Part IV discusses the applicability of current international laws of war to cyber attacks. Part V of this article suggests ways in which current international law can be improved to include and regulate cyber attacks …

The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities: Reflection On Four Flaws That Tarnish Its Promise, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

On December 13, 2006, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”). Widely touted as the “first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century,” and effusively praised for its open negotiation process, the CRPD was opened for signature on March 30, 2007. The CRPD quickly entered into force on May 3, 2008. As it rapidly amassed signatories, the CRPD inspired great hope that its comprehensive approach would do much to overcome the consistent failure to promote the dignity of those with disabilities in meaningfully concrete ways.

The CRPD has garnered much recent and …

Top Ten Reasons Sen. Gillibrand’S Bill Is The Wrong Solution To Military Sexual Assault, Charles J. Dunlap Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Over the years Congress has made plenty of efforts to “improve” the military justice system for a variety of reasons, but few matters have generated more offerings than did the Pentagon’s report this past spring of an estimated 26,000 victims of “unwanted sexual contacts” in the armed forces. Some initiatives to address this very critical problem, like the bipartisan effort of Senators Barbara Boxer and Lindsey Graham, look promising; others, not so much.

However, none are as misguided as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposal. Indeed, it is hard to think of a proposal that could be more wrong for the military, …

The Legal And Ethical Limits Of Technological Warfare: Introduction, Amos N. Guiora

Utah Law Review

Deciding a year in advance the theme of a law review symposium is, at best, a tricky proposition. The considerations are varied: what topic will be relevant to academics and policymakers, who shoul dbe invited as panelists, how will invited individuals mix and collaborate with each other, what issue will be of interest to the larger community, and what kind of contribution will the symposium and subsequent publications make to the issue chosen? In conjunction with the Utah Law Review Board and faculty collegues, we decided that addressing the legal and ethical aspects of technological warfare met the criteria we …

Foreign In A Domestic Sense: American Samoa And The Last U.S. Nationals, Sean Morrison

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Citizenship is part of the foundation of being American. Yet the United States treats some of its own as second class citizens. Deep in the South Pacific, forgotten amidst the vast ocean and coconuts, is a small series of islands that represent the only U.S. jurisdiction below the equator. American Samoa remains the last American territory that does not recognize its inhabitants as citizens. For more than a century, American Samoans have fought American wars, pledged allegiance to the American flag, and played a significant amount of American football, yet are categorized as U.S. nationals rather than citizens.

Recently, some …

Cyber-Conflict, Cyber-Crime, And Cyber-Espionage, David Weissbrodt

Articles

Computers and the Internet have changed and are continuing to change the way governments, militaries, businesses, and other organs of society manage their activities. While computers can improve efficiency, they are vulnerable to cyber-attack, cyber-crime, and cyber-espionage. 1 The international community, states, and businesses are still adapting to the unique set of challenges posed by cyber-attack, cyber-crime, and cyber-espionage. States are creating military operations that specialize in cyber-attack and defense to adapt to these relatively new threats to national security operations. 2

Situating Women In Counterterrorism Discourses: Undulating Masculinities And Liminal Femininities, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

Articles

The preoccupation with the challenges posed by violent actors has long existed for many states, whether such actors are characterized as terrorists or insurgents, nonstate or paramilitary actors. The events of September 11, 2001, brought a new urgency and vibrancy to state action in the realm of counterterrorism, illustrated by both the response of national legal systems as well as more concerted efforts to achieve multilateral and multilevel counterterrorism reactions on the international plane.1 From a feminist perspective, it is notable that terrorism and counterterrorism have long been of marginal interest to mainstream feminist legal theorizing.2 This is partly because …

Piracy Definitions In Domestic And Regional Systems, The Pilpg

War Crimes Memoranda

No abstract provided.

Narratives Of Mass Violence: The Role Of Memory And Memorialization In Addressing Human Rights Violations In Post-Conflict Rwanda And Uganda, Carla De Yeaza, Nicole Fox

Societies Without Borders

This paper explores the question of what do Rwandans and Ugandans working on memorialization initiatives deem important when discussing the role of individual and collective memory in the aftermath of mass violence and human rights violations. Social scientists and human rights scholars have asserted the importance of memory in both reconciliation and healing after mass violence. However, it is difficult to determine the most appropriate way to facilitate reconciliation between groups who previously raped, stole from or killed one another, as there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. While policies cannot remedy the murder of one’s family, scholars, activists and practitioners argue …

A Study On The Efficacy Of The Kampala Amendments For Suppression Of Aggression: Examined By The Case Of Armed Conflicts In The Korean Peninsula, Nu Ri Jung

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Other Missouri Model: Systemic Juvenile Injustice In The Show-Me State, Mae C, Quinn

Journal Articles

For years Missouri has been touted as a model for juvenile justice. Stakeholders and commentators continually declare that the Show-Me State – with its “Missouri Model” – employs the most modern and innovative ap-proaches when it comes to treatment of court-involved youth. This account is reflected in press coverage, television news shows, and agency white papers. But this is only part of the picture; there is much more happening in Missouri when it comes to juveniles. However, this “other” part of the story seldom has been openly discussed – until now.1. This Article seeks to contrast the rosy picture painted …

Behind The Flag Of Dunant: Secrecy And The Compliance Mission Of The International Committee Of The Red Cross, Steven Ratner

Book Chapters

In the world where most NGOs see their role in the international legal process as public advocacy, often through naming and shaming, the International Committee of the Red Cross stands apart. Much of its work consists of confidential visits and secret communications to warring parties. It rarely identifies violators publicly; it leaves its legal position on many issues ambiguous; and at times it avoids legal discourse entirely. This aversion to transparency is not only at odds with the assumptions of the naming and shaming strategy regarding the most effective means to induce compliance. It also makes it almost impossible for …

Lasix And Horseracing: Till Death Do Them Part, Wes Bright

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Toward Comprehensive Reform Of America's Emergency Law Regime, Patrick A. Thronson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Unbenownst to most Americans, the United States is presently under thirty presidentially declared states of emergency. They confer vast powers on the Executive Branch, including the ability to financially incapacitate any person or organization in the United States, seize control of the nation's communications infrastructure, mobilize military forces, expand the permissible size of the military without congressional authorization, and extend tours of duty without consent from service personnel. Declared states of emergency may also activate Presidential Emergency Action Documents and other continuity-of-government procedures, which confer powers on the President-such as the unilateral suspension of habeas corpus-that appear fundamentally opposed to …

The Right To Quantitative Privacy, David Gray, Danielle Citron

Minnesota Law Review, Vols. 1-106:1 (1917-2021)

No abstract provided.

The Duty To Capture, Jens David Ohlin

Minnesota Law Review, Vols. 1-106:1 (1917-2021)

No abstract provided.

Future War, Future Law, Eric Talbot Jensen

Minnesota Journal of International Law, Vols 1-28:1 (1992-2019)

No abstract provided.

Cyber-Conflict, Cyber-Crime, And Cyber-Espionage, David Weissbrodt

Minnesota Journal of International Law, Vols 1-28:1 (1992-2019)

No abstract provided.

A Duty To Investigate Incidents Involving Collateral Damage And The United States Military's Practice, Michal Drabik

Minnesota Journal of International Law, Vols 1-28:1 (1992-2019)

It is generally believed that states do not have an obligation to investigate incidents involving collateral damage absent a suspicion that a grave breach of International Humanitarian Law (“IHL”) has occurred. This paper argues that, although there is no affirmative investigative duty expressed in any IHL treaty, a general duty to investigate is clearly implied by two requirements contained in IHL treaties: the duty to examine every incident that amounts to a grave breach and the duty to punish offenders who violate IHL provisions. As applied to the U.S. military, while this general investigative duty may at times prove troublesome, …

A Pacific Blockade Of Syria, Eric Engle

Minnesota Journal of International Law, Vols 1-28:1 (1992-2019)

No abstract provided.

The Strange Case Of Lieutenant Waddell: How Overly Restrictive Rules Of Engagement Adversely Impact The American War Fighter And Undermine Military Victory, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

A rules of engagement (“ROE”) Review Board should be created in order to provide an impartial review process for service members facing adverse administrative action for violations of ROE. Politicians defining the ROE, rather than military experts, create rules that are so restrictive and confusing that they ultimately run counter to the military objective of victory. A violation of a ROE can be a criminal offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but violations are issued arbitrarily, and often the military does not charge the service member with a crime, instead using adverse administrative measures to impose punishment.

While …

The Dual Use Dilemma: Crying Out For Leadership, David R. Franz

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.