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Full-Text Articles in Law
Lawful Self-Defense To Terrorism, Mary Ellen O'Connell
Lawful Self-Defense To Terrorism, Mary Ellen O'Connell
Mary Ellen O'Connell
No abstract provided.
Enhancing The Status Of Non-State Actors Through A Global War On Terror?, Mary Ellen O'Connell
Enhancing The Status Of Non-State Actors Through A Global War On Terror?, Mary Ellen O'Connell
Mary Ellen O'Connell
Soon after September 11, President Bush declared a global war on terrorism and members of terrorist groups "combatants." These declarations are not only generally inconsistent with international law; they also reverse the trend regarding the legal status of international non-state actors. For decades, law-abiding non-state actors, such as international humanitarian aid organizations, enjoyed ever-expanding rights on the international plane. Professor Schachter observed how this trend came at the expense of the nation-state. He also predicted, however, that the nation-state would not fade away any time soon. And, by the late Twentieth Century, the trend toward enhanced status was noticeably slowing. …
Affirming The Ban On Harsh Interrogation, Mary Ellen O'Connell
Affirming The Ban On Harsh Interrogation, Mary Ellen O'Connell
Mary Ellen O'Connell
Beginning in 2002, lawyers for the Bush Administration began producing the now infamous legal memoranda on the subject of interrogation. The memoranda advise interrogators that they can torture people without fear of prosecution in connection with the so-called global war on terror. Much has been and will be written about the expedient and erroneous legal analysis of the memos. One issue at risk of being overlooked, however, because the memos emphasize torture, is that the United States must respect limits far short of torture in the conduct of interrogations. The United States may not use any form of coercion against …
When Is A War Not A War? The Myth Of The Global War On Terror, Mary Ellen O'Connell
When Is A War Not A War? The Myth Of The Global War On Terror, Mary Ellen O'Connell
Mary Ellen O'Connell
It is essential to correctly classify situations in the world as ones of war or peace: human lives depend on the distinction, but so do liberty, property, and the integrity of the natural environment. President Bush's war on terror finds war where suspected members of al Qaeda are found. By contrast, war under international law exists where hostilities are on-going. To the extent there is ambiguity, the United States should err on the side of pursuing terrorists within the peacetime criminal law enforcement paradigm, not a wartime one. Not only does the criminal law better protect important human rights and …
Pretrial And Preventive Detention Of Suspected Terrorists: Options And Constraints Under International Law, Douglass Cassel
Pretrial And Preventive Detention Of Suspected Terrorists: Options And Constraints Under International Law, Douglass Cassel
Douglass Cassel
No abstract provided.
Kiobel, Extraterritoriality, And The "Global War On Terrorism", Craig Martin
Kiobel, Extraterritoriality, And The "Global War On Terrorism", Craig Martin
Craig Martin
For the purpose of exploring the issues of extraterritoriality raised in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., this project sought to examine how the federal courts have considered extraterritoriality in cases arising in the so-called “global war on terror” (GWOT). The inquiry leads to some new and arguably important observations about extraterritoriality in the GWOT policies and related jurisprudence. The plaintiffs in Kiobel claimed, under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), that the defendant corporations were liable for complicity in Nigeria’s conduct of indefinite detention, torture, and extrajudicial killing. The U.S. Supreme Court departed from the issue of corporate liability under …
Report Of The Independent Expert On The Protection Of Human Rights And Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism, Robert K. Goldman
Report Of The Independent Expert On The Protection Of Human Rights And Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism, Robert K. Goldman
Robert K. Goldman
The Commission on Human Rights, in resolution 2004/87, decided to designate, from within existing resources, for a period of one year, an independent expert to assist the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the fulfillment of the mandate described in the resolution and, “taking fully into account the study requested in General Assembly resolution 58/187, as well as the discussions in the Assembly and the views of States thereon, to submit a report, through the High Commissioner, to the Commission at its sixty-first session on ways and means of strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms …
Self-Defence In An Age Of Terrorism: Introductory Remarks, Mark A. Drumbl
Self-Defence In An Age Of Terrorism: Introductory Remarks, Mark A. Drumbl
Mark A. Drumbl
None available.
Reclassifying "Terrorists" As Victims: Integrating Terrorism Analysis Into The Particular Social Group Framework Of Asylum, Emily Naser-Hall
Reclassifying "Terrorists" As Victims: Integrating Terrorism Analysis Into The Particular Social Group Framework Of Asylum, Emily Naser-Hall
Emily Naser-Hall
After the September 11th terrorist attacks at the hands of al-Qaeda operatives who slipped through the cracks of the US immigration system, immigration and asylum law became increasingly focused on ensuring that potential terrorists are not allowed into the United States. The USA PATRIOT Act and its subsequent legislation created what has become an unyielding bar to admission for any individual who is a member of a terrorist organization or who has committed terrorist activities. While the terrorism bar developed in response to real or perceived threats to US national security and has recently regained public light with the trial …
Accountability For System Criminality, Mark A. Drumbl
'Lesser Evils' In The War On Terrorism, Mark A. Drumbl
'Lesser Evils' In The War On Terrorism, Mark A. Drumbl
Mark A. Drumbl
No abstract provided.
The Expressive Value Of Prosecuting And Punishing Terrorists: Hamdan, The Geneva Conventions, And International Criminal Law, Mark A. Drumbl
The Expressive Value Of Prosecuting And Punishing Terrorists: Hamdan, The Geneva Conventions, And International Criminal Law, Mark A. Drumbl
Mark A. Drumbl
In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the military commissions that had been proposed by the Executive to prosecute a small number of detainees captured in the 'war on terror' could not proceed. In response to the Hamdan decision, Congress enacted a new military commission structure in the 2006 Military Commissions Act (MCA), which President Bush signed on October 17, 2006. The MCA establishes military commissions for aliens classified as unlawful enemy combatants. It lists the crimes chargeable by such commissions. The MCA also amends domestic legislation - for example, the War Crimes Act - initially …
Victimhood In Our Neighborhood: Terrorist Crime, Taliban Guilt, And The Asymmetries Of The International Legal Order, Mark A. Drumbl
Victimhood In Our Neighborhood: Terrorist Crime, Taliban Guilt, And The Asymmetries Of The International Legal Order, Mark A. Drumbl
Mark A. Drumbl
This Article posits that the September 11 attacks constitute nonisolated warlike attacks undertaken against a sovereign state by individuals from other states operating through a non-state actor with some command and political structure. This means that the attacks contain elements common to both armed attacks and criminal attacks. The international community largely has characterized the attacks as armed attacks. This characterization evokes a legal basis for the use of force initiated by the United States and United Kingdom against Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Notwithstanding the successes of the military campaign and the need for containment of terrorist activity, this …
Guantanamo, Rasul, And The Twilight Of Law, Mark A. Drumbl
Guantanamo, Rasul, And The Twilight Of Law, Mark A. Drumbl
Mark A. Drumbl
In Rasul v. Bush, the Supreme Court held that U.S. district courts have jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad in connection with hostilities and incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. In this paper, I explore what has happened since the Rasul decision: most notably, the introduction of combatant status review tribunals as a response to Rasul and the challenges that have been filed thereto and adjudicated in the federal courts (Khalid, In re Guantanamo Detainee Cases); the charges brought against certain detainees by military commissions and challenges to these commissions filed in the …
Is Torture Justified In Terrorism Cases?: Comparing U.S. And European Views, Stephen P. Hoffman
Is Torture Justified In Terrorism Cases?: Comparing U.S. And European Views, Stephen P. Hoffman
Stephen P. Hoffman
This essay discusses issues of torture and some of the philosophical underpinnings. First, I define torture as it is used in international and human rights law. Then, I discuss three primary theories of torture: deontology, consequentialism, and threshold deontology. After setting this groundwork, I introduce particular issues in terrorism cases such as the “ticking bomb” scenario, which is often used to argue that torture may be appropriate and possibly required when done to save many lives. This invariably must include a discussion of the necessity doctrine, the legal doctrine allowing an individual to take extraordinary — even illegal — measures …
Defending Weak States Against The "Unwilling Or Unable" Doctrine Of Self-Defense, Dawood I. Ahmed
Defending Weak States Against The "Unwilling Or Unable" Doctrine Of Self-Defense, Dawood I. Ahmed
Dawood Ahmed
Victim states occasionally use force to target non-state actors that have allegedly attacked the victim state, on the pretext that the host state is “unwilling or unable” (“ineffective”) to act. The international law permissibility of such force is unclear: state responsibility principles do not hold ineffective states liable, the universe of state practice is small and the International Court of Justice and some scholars deny the legality of such force while others disagree. This article is the first dedicated to a critical analysis of the “unwilling or unable” doctrine from both, a law and policy perspective. It argues that, although …
Assimilation Anxiety: Islamic Migration As A Perceived Threat To Western Cultures, David Barnhizer
Assimilation Anxiety: Islamic Migration As A Perceived Threat To Western Cultures, David Barnhizer
David Barnhizer
In this cynical age it is common to smirk at claims about what is sometimes called American Exceptionalism, a term standing for the conclusion that America is an historically distinct (and better) system. To some degree it does represent cultural arrogance founded on assumption rather than fact. It also ignores “exceptionally” dark chapters in American history, including slavery, seizing of lands from Native Americans and imprisoning of US citizens of Japanese descent. Nonetheless it seems that given the diversity of the population and the sheer enormity of the nation that, as stated by an Asian Indian friend who is a …
A Triumph Of Ill Conceived Language: The Linguistic Origins Of Guantamo’S “Rough Justice”, Brian Christopher Jones
A Triumph Of Ill Conceived Language: The Linguistic Origins Of Guantamo’S “Rough Justice”, Brian Christopher Jones
Brian Christopher Jones
Throughout the years, the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay has witnessed an abundance of intriguing linguistic words and phrases. For example, “Freedom Vanilla” replaced French Vanilla ice cream in the mess hall, and the area where journalists and others were often sequestered during their visits to the base was re-named “Camp Justice.” The list goes on. However, the language that has had the most significant impact throughout the years has been the words and phrases used in the administration of justice regarding the detainees being held on terrorism charges.Wall St. Journal Supreme Court reporter Jess Bravin’s book, The Terror Courts: …
Negotiating With ‘Bulimic Man’: The (F)Utility Of Engaging Iran, Amit Chhabra
Negotiating With ‘Bulimic Man’: The (F)Utility Of Engaging Iran, Amit Chhabra
Amit Chhabra
In the aftermath of the World Trade Center bombings of September 11, 2001 (“9/11”), the American psyche has been inordinately consumed with the notion of terror and global jihad against Western culture. Even before these dramatic events, though, our unique sense of humor has traditionally emboldened us to enjoy a good scare. When terror strikes in the real world, then, we are readily at attention. Increasingly since the advent of the television, this aspect of our collective psychology has been commoditized by Hollywood and politicized at election time. The fact that Halloween traditionally falls less than a week before Election …