Law Commons^™

The Return Of Moral Equivalence, J. Peter Pham

Human Rights & Human Welfare

During the latter stages of the Cold War, one school of ethical analysis, ultimately labeled as “moral equivalence” by the late Jeane Kirkpatrick, measured Western liberal democracies against utopian standards in a radical critique which redefined the political discourse, erasing distinctions between the Soviet Union and its satellites on the one hand and the United States and its allies on the other.

Missing The Point, Colin Thomas-Jensen

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“What would happen if we thought of Darfur as we do of Iraq, as a place with a history and politics—a messy politics of insurgency and counterinsurgency?” (§4). This is the most telling question posed by Professor Mahmood Mamdani in “The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency.” The implication is that the growing public demand for strong international action—military or otherwise—to halt the atrocities in Darfur is somehow unwarranted because people have failed to understand that the systematic crimes against humanity committed against civilians in Darfur (and indeed Iraq) are an inevitability of “the messy politics of insurgency and …

The Moral Vocabulary Of Violence, David L. G. Rice

Human Rights & Human Welfare

What is at stake in labeling a particular incidence of large-scale violence “genocide”? Mahmood Mamdani rightly argues that “genocide” is an insufficient description of the conflict in Darfur. I would suggest that the problematic nature of that terminology goes back to its inception after World War II. Activists have inherited the concept of “genocide” from a particular historical moment. Now, “ genocide” carries unique moral weight in the discourse of international politics. When violence against civilians has been widely accepted as a necessary outcome of the preservation of peace, activists find it necessary to imagine a worse evil than the …

Ali Wyne On The Economic Life Of Refugees By Karen Jacobsen. Bloomfield, Ct: Kumarian Press, 2005. 131pp., Ali Wyne

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Economic Life of Refugees by Karen Jacobsen. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, 2005. 131pp.

Settler's Remorse, Floyd Abrams

Michigan Law Review

Who can quarrel with the notion that settling civil cases is generally a good thing? Litigation is expensive, time-consuming, preoccupying, and often personally destructive. Our courts are overburdened and, in any event, imperfect decision-making entities. It may even be true that, more often than not, "the absolute result of a trial is not as high a quality of justice as is the freely negotiated, give a little, take a little settlement." But not every case should be settled. Many are worthless. The settlement of others could too easily lead to a torrent of unwarranted litigation. Sometimes, as Professor Owen Fiss …

Commission Control: The Court's Narrow Holding In Hamdan V. Rumsfeld Spurred Congressional Action But Left Many Questions Unanswered. So What Happens Now?, Thomas M. Gore

Mercer Law Review

By a 5-3 vote in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the United States Supreme Court held that the military commissions established by President George W. Bush to try al Qaeda members and other terrorists lacked the "power to proceed because [their] structure and procedures" violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice ("UCMJ") and the Geneva Conventions. In so holding, the Court exercised its power as a significant check on presidential power, but left many questions unanswered. In the wake of Hamdan, Congress enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2006 ("MCA"'). The answers to the questions not addressed by the Court …

King Solomon: Did The Supreme Court Make A Wise Decision In Upholding The Solomon Amendment In Rumsfeld V. Forum For Academic & Institutional Rights, Inc.?, Brook Bristow

Mercer Law Review

In a unanimous decision in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights, Inc., the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment. The Court ruled that under the Solomon Amendment, military recruiters must be given the same access as nonmilitary recruiters on university campuses. The Court's holding clarified three First Amendment tangential freedom issues: (1) what is and what is not expressive conduct; (2) what constitutes compelled speech; and (3) what is meant by expressive association.

Statistics And The Military Deference Doctrine: A Response To Professor Lichtman, John F. O’Connor

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of Terrorism And Human Rights In Uganda, Arika Long

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Tragically, Uganda is a primary example of a country dominated by terror and human rights violations. In a 2006 interview with Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, the news department of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland, called the conflict in Uganda “the worst form of terrorism in the world.” Defining terrorism as indiscriminate violence against civilians, he declares that nowhere in the world is there a more concentrated area where so many people are being terrorized, and have been for such a long period of time. According to …

Uzbekistan At The Crossroads, Latife Bulur

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Uzbekistan is at the crossroads of the Central Asian region. Because of its strategic location and natural resources, Uzbekistan is becoming an interest to many different states, including the United States. However, many states that are interested in Uzbekistan are cautious about developing relations due to civil and governmental unrest.

The Unresolved Equation Of Espionage And International Law, A. John Radsan

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Essay, in order to offer up something to that appetite, is divided into five parts. After this introduction, the author, A. John Radsan, describes a Hegelian impulse, the perpetual drive to find unity in disorder. That impulse, for better or worse, creates the train and the track for many of the academy's journeys. Radsan then defines what is meant by "intelligence activities" for purposes of this Essay, after which Radsan surveys the scholarship that existed before this symposium on the relationship between espionage and international law. As the number of pages written on this topic suggests, scholarship on espionage …

Keynote Address, Jeffrey H. Smith

Michigan Journal of International Law

This afternoon, I want to touch briefly on a number of issues rather than discuss one or two to death. I chose this approach because it seemed an appropriate way to open a conference. I also chose it because I hope I can convince you that intelligence and international law interact in a way that simultaneously strengthens the law and improves intelligence; that law matters, especially in time of war; and that both good intelligence and good law have one common core value: integrity. So that you will have a sense of the perspective that I bring to this, I …

Ten Questions: Responses Of John S. Baker, Jr., John S. Baker Jr.

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ten Questions: Responses Of Lisa Graves, Lisa Graves

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ten Questions: Responses Of Robert F. Turner, Robert F. Turner

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is The Geneva Pow Convention "Quaint"?, R. J. Delahunty

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Hamdan V. Rumsfeld Decision, Thomas F. Berndt, Josiah Ramsey Fricton, Alethea M. Huyser

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Criminal Court Begins Its First Prosecution Putting Its Credibility On The Line In Child Soldier Case, Nigel D. Graham

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Speech: Modern War And Modern Law, David Kennedy

University of Baltimore Law Review

Warfare has become a legal institution. Law organizes and disciplines the military, defines the battlespace, privileges killing the enemy, and offers a common language to debate the legitimacy of waging war — down to the tactics of particular battle. At the same time, law is no longer a matter of firm distinctions — combatant and non-combatant, war and peace. It has become a flexible and strategic partner for both the military and for humanitarians seeking to restrain the violence of warfare. The relationship between modern war and modern law is made all the more complex by today's asymmetric conflicts, and …

A Paper Tiger With Bite: A Defense Of The War Powers Resolution, Michael B. Weiner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The War Powers Resolution (WPR) has led a beleaguered existence. Since its enactment in 1973, it has been labeled ineffectual and useless. This Note proves, however, that to review presidential unilateral uses of force since 1973 is to find a spirit of compliance with the WPR, as these uses of force have been characterized by their brevity and their lack of spilled U.S.blood. While minor departures from the WPR's black-letter requirements are conceded, none of these uses of force have developed into, or even resembled, Vietnam-esque quagmires. As a result, this Note contends that the WPR has had a positive …

Human Rights And The War On Terror Second Edition: Introduction, Jack Donnelly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“9/11 changed everything.” Not really. In fact, there has been far more continuity than change over the past six years in both international and domestic politics. Nonetheless, human rights often have been harmed—although not by terrorism but by “the war on terror.”

Sudan: A Survey Of Terrorism And Human Rights, Arika Long

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Sudan is a primary example of a country dominated by terror and human rights violations. Upon the release of Amnesty International’s 2007 annual report, Secretary General Khan described the continuing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region as a “bleeding wound on the world’s conscience.” In the report, the authors declare that the world has been “impotent” in the face of major crises like Darfur. They state that policies linked to the “War on Terror” are creating a more polarized and dangerous world, with grave effects in Sudan. In addition to the terror and human rights violations permeating the North, frustration also …

Essential To The National Security: An Executive Ban On "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Pamela Lundquist

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Ireland 1880-2005: A Constitutional Perspective, Sir David Williams

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Brac Act, The State Militia Charade, And The Disregard Of Original Intent, Nathan Zezula

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ten Questions: Responses Of John Cary Sims, John Cary Sims

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Special Tactics For A Secret War

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

This Call May Be Monitored: Is Nsa Wiretapping Legal?

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dark Side Of Counterterrorism

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Balance Of Power: The Supreme Court's Decision On Military Commissions And The Competing Interests In The War On Terror, Josiah Ramsey Fricton

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.