Law Commons^™

Exercising Passive Personality Jurisdiction Over Combatants: A Theory In Need Of A Political Solution, Eric Talbot Jensen

Faculty Scholarship

On March 4, 2005, a car carrying Nicola Calipari and Andrea Carpani, members of the Italian Ministry of Intelligence, and Giuliana Sgrena, a journalist who had been taken hostage one month before and who had just been released and was on her way back to Italy, was traveling to the Baghdad Airport. The car was fired on by US forces from a checkpoint, killing Mr. Calipari and wounding Ms. Sgrena and Mr. Carpani. As a result of this tragic event, a joint investigation occurred and but Italy and the United States could not agree on the results. The United States …

Untying The Gordian Knot: A Proposal For Determining Applicability Of The Laws Of War To The War On Terror, Geoffery S. Corn, Eric Talbot Jensen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Interrogation Of Detainees: Extending A Hand Or A Boot?, Amos N. Guiora

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The current "war on terror" provides the Bush administration with a unique opportunity to both establish clear guidelines for the interrogation of detainees and to make a forceful statement about American values. How the government chooses to act can promote either an ethical commitment to the norms of civil society, or an attitude analogous to Toby Keith's "American Way," where Keith sings that "you'll be sorry that you messed with the USofA, 'Cuz we'll put a boot in your ass, It's the American Way."

Peace Without Justice, Or Justice Without Peace?, Clair Apodaca

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Peace without justice is an illusion. The use of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute human rights violations not only provides restorative justice for those harmed by the wrongdoing but also retributive justice towards the perpetrators. Restorative justice seeks to help heal the wounds of the victims and community by acknowledging and witnessing the pain and suffering of the victim. Retributive justice seeks to punish the offenders. The hope is that retribution will deter or prevent future acts of violence by holding perpetrators accountable for the violations of human rights, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. …

December Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Activist.” Harper's Magazine. November 2008.

Human Rights Or Inhuman Wrongs, Edward Friedman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The project of promoting universally recognized human rights, that is, the commitments of the U.N. General Assembly-ratified Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), is in danger. Military and political intervention, including economic sanctions, to stop genocide and ethnic and other political mass murder is under attack. Apparently the lessons of Hitler’s holocaust, the Turkish genocide of Armenians, Pol Pot’s slaughter of innocents, and the loss of life in Rwanda are being rethought and un-taught. So-called peace is now preferred over prevention. The dead may have died in vain.

Global Ethics And The Role Of Academics, Christien Van Den Anker

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Academics have a social and professional responsibility that stems from their individual duties as global citizens. With their privileged position as lifelong learners they need to assess carefully where they direct their attention for research, their teaching and their exchange of knowledge with the wider public. This means that academic freedom does not only bring a range of rights, it also involves duties to develop and advocate ethical positions on real-life dilemmas and to engage in self-reflection on being in the role of contributing to oppression.

Challenging The International Criminal Court Over Al-Bashir, Emma Gilligan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As of late November 2008, we are still awaiting the decision of the U.N. Security Council with regard to the request for the arrest of Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide put forward by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in July. With former Presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia as the only two heads of state formally indicted by the ICC since its inception in 2002, the question remains whether the U.N. Security Council will allow this controversial indictment of al-Bashir by Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo or invoke Article 16 …

Alex De Waal's Shuttle Diplomacy, Sarah Stanlick

Human Rights & Human Welfare

This month’s discussion piece, “The Activist,” is a critical look at one of the most renowned scholars of the turmoil in Sudan. Alex de Waal, a man with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the different factions, aspects, and issues surrounding the conflicts in Sudan, is profiled under a careful eye. De Waal, a competent critic—as McDonell notes who “takes pride in his competence, and he does not hesitate to criticize activists he deems inexpert”— has built a career on a meticulously researched understanding of the conflict. He honed that reputation through careful action, critical thinking, and a critical voice for …

Protection Of Internally Displaced Persons In Darfur: A Dilemma And Failure Of Responsibility To Protect, Assad Khalid Salih

Archived Theses and Dissertations

One of the new emerging debatable topics is protection of Internally Displaced Persons [IDPs] from suppression of their governments. The topic has not been discussed extensively. Writings that discuss protection of IDPs are not extensive and discuss it rhetorically without defining protection mechanisms. This thesis adds to the ongoing discussion by defining and examining these protection mechanisms. It will include the emergence of new concepts like â â human securityâ â and â â responsibility to protectâ â which have changed the conceptualization of state sovereignty. The thesis will use Darfur as a case study a place where many scholars …

Military Commissions And National Security Courts After Guantánamo, Amos N. Guiora

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Fighting Women: The Military, Sex, And Extrajudicial Constitutional Change, Jill Elaine Hasday

Jill Elaine Hasday

The Supreme Court in Rostker v. Goldberg (1981) upheld male-only military registration, and endorsed male-only conscription and combat positions. Few cases have challenged restrictions on women's military service since Rostker, and none have reached the Supreme Court. Federal statutes continue to exclude women from military registration and draft eligibility, and military regulations still ban women from some combat positions. Yet many aspects of women's legal status in the military have changed in striking respects over the past quarter century while academic attention has focused elsewhere. Congress has eliminated statutory combat exclusions, the military has opened many combat positions to women, …

On Jurisdictional Elephants And Kangaroo Courts, Stephen I. Vladeck

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

The Clear And Present Internet: Terrorism, Cyberspace, And The First Amendment, Peter Margulies

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

International Decision: Munaf V. Geren, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

This International Decision case comment, the final version of which will be published in Volume 102, No. 4, of the American Journal of International Law (forthcoming), examines the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Munaf v. Geren, a case arising out of U.S. operations in Iraq and allegations of potential torture in Iraqi custody. In that decision, a unanimous Supreme Court held that the federal courts have jurisdiction under the habeas corpus statute to hear claims brought by American citizens held overseas by American forces "operating subject to an American chain of command, even when those forces are acting as a …

Executive Branch Lawyers In A Time Of Terror: The 2008 F.W. Wickwire Memorial Lecture, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses the ethical responsibilities of the lawyers who advise executive branch officials on the lawfulness of actions taken in the name of national security. To even talk about this subject assumes that there is some distinction between a government that does all within its power to protect its citizens, and one that does all within its lawful power. If there are good normative reasons to care about maintaining this distinction, then we have the key to understanding the ethical responsibilities of government lawyers. The Bush administration took the position that the role of lawyers is to get out …

The Influence Of Ex Parte Quirin And Courts-Martial On Military Commissions, Morris D. Davis

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Crying Havoc Over The Outsourcing Of Soldiers And Democracy's Slipping Grip On The Dogs Of War, Joshua S. Press

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

No Third Class Processes For Foreigners, Benjamin G. Davis

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

"Necessity Hath No Law": Executive Power And The Posse Comitatus Act, Candidus Dougherty

Campbell Law Review

In Part I, I catalog the historical context in which the PCA was passed and describe the military events that are most commonly used to support the case for sharply divided civilian and military authorities. In Part II, I discuss the true purpose and intent of the PCA: to prohibit civilian marshals from calling forth active duty military to enforce domestic law. I also explore the contours of the emergency power doctrine to show that it is not clear that Congress could limit Executive action as a revamped PCA may attempt to do. Lastly, in Part III, I examine whether …

Introductory Note To The Agreement Between The Republic Of Poland And The United States Of America Concerning The Deployment Of Ground-Based Ballistic Missile Defense Interceptors In The Territory Of The Republic Of Poland, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Who Counts? Refugees And The Politics Of Indifference, Sonia Cardenas

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The contemporary plight of refugees, asylum seekers, and other marginalized groups reveals the limits of international human rights norms. Numerous internationally recognized standards and laws exist for the humane treatment of people. Yet despite enormous progress, the reality is that some people are simply deemed to be less fully human than others. Nationalism and racism underlie popular indifference to today’s unwanted refugees. This is the unspoken truth that lies at the heart of the global refugee problem.

Reconstructing Sovereignty: From Control To Responsibility, Eric K. Leonard

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As I stood with a standing-room only crowd last fall at a United Nations University of New York (UNU-ONY) event entitled, "Prevention of Mass Atrocities: From Mandate to Realization," I began to wonder how far the responsibility to protect (R2P) could be stretched. As defined by the UNU-ONY organizers, the purpose of the event was " to explore the work of mass atrocity prevention across the UN system, with a focus on the role of the new Office of the Special Representative for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities (SRPGMA)." As I currently look at the international community's response …

July Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

"Armed and Humanitarian" by Bruce Falconer. Mother Jones. May 19, 2008.

Mission Creep: De-Militarizing Humanitarian Protection, Sonia Cardenas

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Over a decade ago, the U.S. military was warning liberal internationalists about the dangers of "mission creep." Today it is doing the opposite, incorporating relief and development work into its operations. In the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Burma , the U.S. military's newfound mission may seem compelling. Unfortunately, expanding the military's role into humanitarian work reflects a flawed logic that should be resisted. There are more promising ways to protect victims of humanitarian disaster.

When Steel And Guns Meets Bread And Butter, Daniel J. Graeber

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Speaking before the 191-member United Nations in 2005, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that "For the first time . we are agreed that states do not have the right to do what they will within their own borders but that we in the name of humanity have a common duty to protect people where their own governments will not." This notion, that of responsible sovereignty , says that nation states forfeit the right to uninterrupted internal freedoms when they no longer uphold the responsibilities associated with sovereignty.

Reining In Rambo: Prosecuting Crimes Committed By American Military Contractors In Iraq, Christopher D. Belen

Penn State International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Searching And Researching Archives, Matilda Arvidsson

Dr Matilda Arvidsson

In this presentation I juxtapose two web pages, analyzed as archives: the Gertrude Bell archives (http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/), and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) of Iraq official web page (http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/).

Following Jacques Derrida and Ann Laura Stoler, I argue that these archives should be researched not as sources of knowledge, but rather as the structuring and production of knowledge of law and colonial power. Researching law and colonial power in this way the similarities and dissimilarities in structuring the two archives as specifically online archives are analyzed in the presentation, pointing at the ways in which documents, texts, data is provided, presented …

From The Department Of Justice To Guantanamo Bay; Administration Lawyers And Administration Interrogation Rules, Part I: Hearing Before The Subcomm. On The Constitution, Civil Rights And Civil Liberties Of The H. Comm. On The Judiciary, 110th Cong., May 6, 2008 (Statement Of David Luban, Prof. Of Law, Geo. U. L. Center), David Luban

Testimony Before Congress

Government lawyers have an awesome responsibility. Office of Legal Counsel opinions bind the entire executive branch. They have the force of law inside that branch. The idea that unelected lawyers are writing secret legal opinions that spin the law makes a mockery of democratic government. It means the executive branch is governed by a secret constitution - a constitution written by activist lawyers instead of the constitution written by the Framers.

Without getting too deeply into technicalities which, quite frankly, only a lawyer could love, let me summarize in a bit more detail just how spun the torture memos were.

Duress, Demanding Heroism And Proportionality, Luis E. Chiesa

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.