Law Commons^™

Inherent Powers, Ignoble History Make New Idea Anything But Innocuous, C. Peter Erlinder

C. Peter Erlinder

No abstract provided.

Combating Terrorism At Sea -- The Suppression Of Unlawful Acts Against The Safety Of Maritime Navigation, Helmut Tuerk

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

While piracy is an age-old phenomenon plaguing mankind, terrorism at sea has only manifested itself in recent times through the Achille Lauro hijacking in 1985 serving as a wake-up call. The international community has since been striving to adopt a series of legal as well as practical measures in order to prevent a recurrence of such a terrorist act because the rules of international law relating to piracy are not applicable mutatis mutandis to terrorism. The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation was adopted in 1988. This Convention addressed terrorism at sea for …

A Hartman Hotz Symposium: Intelligence, Law, And Democracy, Steve Sheppard, Robin Butler, William Howard Taft Iv, Alberto Mora

Steve Sheppard

On April 25, 2007, the Hartman Hotz Trust of the University of Arkansas hosted a symposium to discuss the relationships between intelligence, law, and democracy. This article contains a transcript of the topics discussed at the symposium. Don Bobbit, Dean of the Fulbright College introduced the panel, and Steve Sheppard, Enfield Professor of Law, moderated the discussion. The panelists included three guests with experience in the intelligence field: Lord Robin Butler, former head of the British Civil Service; Alberto Mora, former General Counsel of the United States Navy; and William Howard Taft IV, former Acting Secretary of Defense and Legal …

Bus Bombings And A Baby's Custody: Insidious Victories For Terrorism In The Context Of International Custody Disputes, Andrew Zashin

Faculty Publications

This article will address the problematic intersection of terrorism and child custody battles. The most immediate consequences of a terrorist attack are loved ones lost and buildings reduced to rubble. These losses are devastating, shocking and scary. But to end an analysis of terrorist victories with a body count is a fatal mistake. Americans fervently shout we cannot let "them" win, but how do we decide if they are winning? What do the terrorists want? It is not the goal of terrorists to simply kill Americans, causing death and destruction. That is merely a horrific means to their end. Terrorists …

Intelligence And Human Rights: A View From Venus, Peter Gill

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Intelligence and Human Rights in the Era of Global Terrorism. By Steve Tsang (ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International, 2007.

and

War by Other Means: An Insider’s Account of the War on Terror. By John Yoo. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006.

Taking Liberties: The Personal Jurisdiction Of Military Commissions, Madeline Morris

Faculty Scholarship

On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda operatives attacked civilian and military targets on US territory, causing thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of economic loss. The next day, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1368 characterizing the attack by Al Qaeda as a "threat to international peace and security" and recognizing the right of states to use armed force in self defense.

Terror Victims At The Museum Gates: Testing The Commercial Activity Exception Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Alicia M. Hilton

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Assumptions Behind The Assumptions In The War On Terror: Risk Assessment As An Example Of Foundational Disagreement In Counterterrorism Policy, Kenneth Anderson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This 2007 article (based around an invited conference talk at Wayne State in early 2007) addresses risk assessment and cost benefit analysis as mechanisms in counterterrorism policy. It argues that although policy is often best pursued by agreeing to set aside deep foundational differences, in order to obtain a strategic plan for an activity such as counterterrorism, foundational differences must be addressed in order that policy not merely devolve into a policy minimalism that is always and damagingly tactical, never strategic, in order to avoid domestic democratic political conflict. The article takes risk assessment in counterterrorism, using cost benefit analysis, …

Government Support For Terrorism Insurance, Thomas Russell, Jeffrey E. Thomas

Faculty Works

Federal government support for the terrorism insurance industry has a very brief history. Prior to 9/11, insurers did not take terrorist-related losses into account when underwriting risks. The industry did not even conceive of an attack that could generate such significant losses. The dramatic shift in perception since then has caused many to suggest that terrorism risks are uninsurable. The notion that terrorism risk was uninsurable was part of the rationale advanced for government intervention. When the initial efforts at legislation failed, the industry began to withdraw from the market by adding exclusions for terrorism-related losses to their policies. Reinsurers …

How To Justify An Emergency Regime And Preserve Civil Liberties In Times Of Terrorism, Emmanuel Gross

South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business

No abstract provided.

International Standards For Detaining Terrorism Suspects: Moving Beyond The Armed Conflict-Criminal Divide, Monica Hakimi

Articles

Although sometimes described as war, the fight against transnational jihadi groups (referred to for shorthand as the "fight against terrorism") largely takes place away from any recognizable battlefield. Terrorism suspects are captured in houses, on street comers, and at border crossings around the globe. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the high-level Qaeda operative who planned the September 11 attacks, was captured by the Pakistani government in a residence in Pakistan. Abu Omar, a radical Muslim imam, was apparently abducted by U.S. and Italian agents off the streets of Milan. And Abu Baker Bashir, the spiritual leader of the Qaeda-affiliated group responsible for …

Sacred Violence: Religion And Terrorism, Jessie Hill, Adam F. Kimney

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

"Change Direction" 2006: Israeli Operations In Lebanon And The International Law Of Self-Defense, Michael N. Schmitt

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article explores and assesses the Israeli justification for Operation Change Direction. Did the law of self-defense provide a basis for the operation? If so, defense against whom-Hezbollah, the State of Lebanon, or both? Were the Israeli actions consistent with the criteria for a lawful defensive action: necessity, proportionality, and immediacy? Did Operation Change Direction unlawfully breach Lebanese territorial integrity?

Dionysian Disarmament: Security Coucil Wmd Coercive Disarmament Measures And Their Legal Implication, James D. Fry

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article provides the first comprehensive legal analysis of the Security Council's coercive disarmament and arms control measures involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In the process of providing this legal analysis, it presents a fresh perspective on a variety of widely held beliefs about disarmament and arms control law, as well as about U.N. law.

A Tale Of Two Networks: Terrorism, Transnational Law, And Network Theory, Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

Talk of networks and "network theory" has become almost ubiquitous in the field of counterterrorism. Terrorist organizations are networks. Terrorists have been empowered by the Internet, ethnic diasporas, and cell phones—networks all. Many of the putative targets of terrorists—electrical grids, oil pipelines, and transportation systems, to name a few—are themselves networks. And, perhaps less often mentioned, terrorists are increasingly hampered by national and international laws that foster cooperation and coordination among states—a network of laws.

From "smart mobs" to "net wars," from narco-trafficking to the Internet, network theory has provided insights into decentralized social organizations and their coordinated action. Both …

The Soft Power And Persuasion Of Translations In The War On Terror: Words And Wisdom In The Transformation Of Legal Systems, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

The power of words is the power of persuasion. The exportation of the foundational legal principles that helped form the American republic can serve as instrumental "soft power" tools in the war on terror. Efforts promoting projects like the Arabic Book Program are important vehicles to cross-cultural and cross-lingual international relations. This Article argues that an arsenal of words can be as, or more, powerful than an arsenal of artillery. The West has much to offer, but the rest of the world needs to be able to read it without getting lost in translation. Providing linguistic access to the documents …