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A Global Paradigm Shattered: The Jurisdictional Nihilism Of The Supreme Court’S Abduction Decision In Alvarez-Machain, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In the United States v. Alvarez Machain, the United States Supreme Court held that the United States could exercise criminal jurisdiction over a Mexican doctor who was abducted by agents of the American government from his office in Mexico and transported to the United States. As the Court's first international law decision after the end of the cold war, this case set the stage for how it would approach the domestic application of international law in the post cold war era. Despite the importance of the case, the Supreme Court failed to articulate the conceptual understanding of the relationship between …