Law Commons^™

The Katanga Complementarity Decisions, Susana Sacouto

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

On 25 September 2009, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a seminal decision on the subject of complementarity in the case Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga. The outcome of the Chamber's decision is that, even if a state has initiated an investigation or prosecution against an individual, the ICC may prosecute that individual for the same crimes or even a more selective range of crimes, so long as the state is willing to close the ongoing investigation or prosecution at the request of the ICC Prosecutor. While this decision is defensible under the language of the Rome …

Significance Of The Fujimori Trial, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Misplaced Modifiers - Say What, David Spratt

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Taking Initiatives: Reconciling Race, Religion, Media And Democracy In The Quest For Marriage Equality, Anthony E. Varona

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Election Days 2008 and 2009 were disappointing ones for advocates of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans, especially supporters of marriage equality. In this comprehensive article, Professor Varona identifies and examines five interrelated tactical lessons the LGBT movement can glean from these recent defeats. He also provides a roadmap at the end of the Introduction to the article, describing the five subsections devoted to these individual lessons.

Section I, provides an overview of what occurred in the various statewide ballot initiative battles in 2008 and 2009 and then describes the preliminary analyses of the reasons for …

Racializing Disability, Disabling Race: Policing Race And Mental Status, Camille Nelson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The Changing Face Of England: Marc Isaacs' All White In Barking, Jan Polek

Journal of Hate Studies

A film review of All White in Barking. [Icarus Films, 2007, 73 minutes]

Introduction, John Shuford

Journal of Hate Studies

T

he Institute for Hate Studies at Gonzaga University is pleased to offer Volume 8 of the Journal of Hate Studies, the theme of which is “The Other Among Us.” It is a timely topic, no doubt, as nativism, racism, and extrem- ism boil over in America’s immigration debate. This volume considers those issues as well as a wider range of perspectives on engagement and disengagement with “the other” in our society, culture, and lives.

Imbedded in this volume’s theme are myriad questions. Who is the “other” among us, and what does it mean to be an “other” or to …

The Internet's Promise To Improve Bias-Crime Reporting: The Case For Including Bias Crimes On Official Crime-Reporting Websites, Jordan Blair Woods

Journal of Hate Studies

This article argues that online crime reporting has the potential to improve bias-crime reporting and proposes that U.S. law enforcement departments include bias crimes on their official crime-reporting websites. In this article, I use the term bias crime to refer to criminal offenses committed against persons or property intentionally selected on the basis of identity characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Introduction To Panel On Gender Crimes At The International Level Proceedings Of The Third International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, Susana Sacouto

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

INTRODUCTION: On February 3, 2010, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its judgment on the appeal of the Prosecutor against the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) denying his application for an arrest warrant against President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir in relation to the crime of genocide. Holding that the PTC had applied an erroneous standard of proof, the Appeals Chamber reversed the PTC's decision and directed it to reconsider whether the warrant should be issued in light of the Appeals Chamber's discussion of the appropriate standard of proof.

Introductory Note For The International Criminal Court, Susana Sacouto

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

INTRODUCTION: On February 3, 2010, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its judgment on the appeal of the Prosecutor against the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) denying his application for an arrest warrant against President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir in relation to the crime of genocide. Holding that the PTC had applied an erroneous standard of proof, the Appeals Chamber reversed the PTC's decision and directed it to reconsider whether the warrant should be issued in light of the Appeals Chamber's discussion of the appropriate standard of proof.

Remarks - Strengthening The Prohibition Against Torture The Evolution Of The Un Committee Against Torture, Claudio Grossman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The U.S. Experience With Mandatory Copyright Formalities: A Love/Hate Relationship, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

Copyright formalities – conditions precedent to the existence or enforcement of copyright, such as provision of information about works of authorship that will put the public on notice as to a work’s protected status and its copyright ownership, or deposit of copies of the work for the national library or other central authority, or local manufacture of copies of works of foreign origin – have performed a variety of functions in US copyright history. Perhaps of most practical importance today, formalities predicate to the existence or enforcement of copyright can serve to shield large copyright owners who routinely comply with …

On Respect, Authority & Neutrality: A Response, Joseph Raz

Faculty Scholarship

I owe a great debt to Professors Wall, Darwall, and Green for their willingness to challenge, develop, and question some of my publications, which forced me to confront a few of the shortcomings in my views and, I hope, to clarify and improve some of them. Given the diversity of the topics, I respond to each separately. I aimed to avoid minor points and to write only on matters which affect the cogency of my views or theirs on important issues.1 For that reason, as well as for reasons of space, not all the issues they raise are dealt …

Economically Benevolent Dictators: Lessons For Developing Democracies, Ronald J. Gilson, Curtis J. Milhaupt

Faculty Scholarship

The post-war experience of developing countries leads to two depressing conclusions: only a small number of countries have successfully developed; and development theory has not produced development. In this article we examine one critical fact that might provide insights into the development conundrum: Some autocratic regimes have fundamentally transformed their economies, despite serious deficiencies along a range of other dimensions. Our aim is to understand how growth came about in these regimes, and whether emerging democracies might learn something important from these experiences.

Our thesis is that in these economically successful countries, the authoritarian regime managed a critical juncture in …

Self-Defense And The Limits Of Wmd Intelligence, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama stated: “Sometimes, the preventive use of force may be necessary, but rarely. The experience of Iraq underscores that often, perceived threats are not as real [as] they may seem, and our intelligence may be imperfect. But, when our intelligence is good and defensible we should not rule out the use of force.” This chapter examines ways of assessing legally whether that intelligence is sufficiently good and defensible. It argues that an objective reasonable necessity approach to WMD capability assessments can serve long-term peace and security objectives and, more specifically, how the law …

The Structure Of Terrorism Threats And The Laws Of War, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

This article considers a major debate in the American and European counterterrorism analytic community – whether the primary terrorist threat to the West is posed by hierarchical, centralized terrorist organizations operating from geographic safe havens, or by radicalized individuals conducting a loosely organized, ideologically common but operationally independent fight against western societies – and this debate’s implications for both jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Analysis of how the law of armed conflict might be evolving to deal with terrorism should engage in more nuanced and sophisticated examination of how terrorism threats are themselves evolving. Moreover, the merits of …

Origin Myths, Contracts, And The Hunt For Pari Passu, Mark C. Weidemaier, Robert E. Scott, G. Mitu Gulati

Faculty Scholarship

Sovereign loans involve complex but largely standardized contracts, and these include some terms that no one understands. Lawyers often account for the existence of these terms through origin myths. Focusing on one contract term, the pari passu clause, this article explores two puzzling aspects of these myths. First, it demonstrates that the myths are inaccurate as to both the clause’s origin and the role of lawyers in contract drafting. Second, the myths often are unflattering, inaccurately portraying lawyers as engaged in little more than rote copying. The article probes this disjunction between the myths and lawyers’ actual practices and explores …

Rescuing Jerry From (Basic) Principles, Joseph Raz

Faculty Scholarship

I will say something on two or three related but distinct topics. First, something on the grounding of normative beliefs, a topic – as I see it – in moral epistemology, and then after a brief remark on explanation, something against a certain understanding of basic principles. My observations were prompted by reflection on Jerry’s desire to rescue justice from the facts.

Philosophical Legal Ethics: Ethics, Morals, And Jurisprudence, Alice Woolley, W. Bradley Wendel, William H. Simon, Stephen Pepper, Daniel Markovitz, Katherine R. Kruse, Tim Dare

Faculty Scholarship

The authors and moderator David Luban participated in a plenary session of the International Legal Ethics Conference IV, held at Stanford. Each author answered and discussed questions arising from short papers they had written about the principal concern of legal ethics was the morality of lawyers, the morality of clients, or the morality of laws?

Those papers, which are to be published in Legal Ethics, are compiled here, along with the question and background information with which the panelists were provided.

In Defense Of Feres: An Unfairly Maligned Opinion, Paul F. Figley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The Supreme Court’s 1950 Feres v. United States decision held that when it enacted the Federal Tort Claims Act Congress did not intend to waive sovereign immunity for injuries to members of the military arising out of activity incident to their service. The Court’s decision was influenced by the long history of efforts to enact a general tort claims bill that would free Congress from the burden of processing claims against the government, as well as the case law, statutes, and procedures pertaining to service-members’ injuries prior to enactment of the Federal Tort Claims Act. This Article examines those influences …

Legislation That Isn't – Attending To Rulemaking's "Democracy Deficit", Peter L. Strauss

Faculty Scholarship

Philip Frickey's commitment to practical legal studies won my admiration early on in his career. In this welcome celebration of his extraordinary career, it seems fitting to essay something "practical" – to attempt a constructive approach to an enduring problem – that has some bearing on his lifelong attention to the problem of "interpretation." If it will not make the problem go away, perhaps it will provide a basis for understanding its inevitable tensions, and in that way will help us step past theoretical exegeses suggesting the possibility of simple answers.

Saving Up For Bankruptcy, Ronald J. Mann, Katherine Porter

Faculty Scholarship

Bankruptcy is a numbers game. Policymaking, public perception, and the scholarly literature are captivated with the number of annual bankruptcy filings, which hit one million in 2008. The number of annual bankruptcy filings has become a barometer of economic health, reflecting an implicit assumption that bankruptcy is a useful proxy for financial distress.

But at the level of the individual family, the causative relation between financial distress and bankruptcy filings is unclear. On the one hand, only a fraction of those in serious financial distress will ever file for bankruptcy. For example, a study by Michelle White examined a group …

The Contradictions Of Juvenile Crime & Punishment, Jeffrey Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores the contradictions and puzzles of modern juvenile justice, and illustrates the enduring power of the child-saving philosophy of the juvenile court in an era of punitiveness toward offenders both young and old. The exponential growth in incarceration in the U.S. since the 1970s has been more restrained for juveniles than adults, even in the face of a youth violence epidemic that lasted for nearly a decade. Rhetoric has grown harsher in the wake of moral panics about youth crime, juvenile codes now express the language of retribution and incapacitation, yet the growth in incarceration of juveniles was …

The Role Of The Chief Executive In Domestic Administration, Peter L. Strauss

Faculty Scholarship

Written for an international working paper conference on administrative law, this paper sets the Supreme Court's decision in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in the context of general American concerns about the place of the President in domestic administration, a recurring theme in my writings.

Mark Tushnet On Why The Constitution Doesn't Matter, Amanda Frost

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

User-Generated Content Sites And Section 512 Of The Us Copyright Act, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This book chapter considers the liability of entrepreneurs of ‘user-generated content’ (UGC) sites. These immensely popular fora, such as YouTube and My Space, enable their participants to post and view a great variety of content, not all of it in fact generated by the posting user. The legislative compromise worked out between telecommunications providers and content owners in the 1998 ‘Digital Millennium Copyright Act’ provides the statutory framework, at once insulating the operators of UGC sites from debilitating copyright sanctions, while still affording meaningful relief to copyright owners. The statutory criteria to qualify for the section 512(c) safe harbor are …

Pregnant Man?: A Conversation, Darren Rosenblum, Noa Ben-Asher, Mary Anne Case, Elizabeth F. Emens, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol, Vivian M. Gutierrez, Lisa C. Ikemoto, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Jacob Willig-Onwuachi, Kimberly Mutcherson, Peter Siegelman, Beth Jones

Faculty Scholarship

I'm a law professor who works on gender, sexuality, and culture in the international and comparative context. That's my head working. In "real" life, my partner, Howard, and I have been engaged in having a baby together for several years, a project that came to fruition with the birth of our daughter Melina. Of course, such a project evokes intensely complex feelings and thoughts. Beyond a simple transposition of the personal onto the political, I feel so fortunate to have engaged in myriad conversations with a variety of friends and colleagues who think much more carefully about the family and …

A Social Movement History Of Title Vii Disparate Impact Analysis, Susan Carle

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano suggests trouble ahead for disparate impact analysis under Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991. Commentators, too, have begun to question the policy bases for this doctrine. Part of the current tenuousness surrounding disparate impact analysis, which the Court first approved in its 1971 opinion in Griggs v. Duke Power Company, stems from assumptions that the EEOC pursued this theory as a last-minute, ill-conceived afterthought that was not in keeping with Congress’s intent when it passed Title VII in 1964. In this Article I use the …

State Sovereign Immunity And The Roberts Court, Stephen I. Vladeck

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Outsiders Inside The Beltway: Latcrit Xiv - Critical Outsider Theory And Praxis In The Policymaking Of The New American Regime, Anthony E. Varona

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

A substantive foreword to the symposium book for the Fourteenth Annual Latino/Latina Critical Legal Theory Scholarship Conference hosted by the American University Washington College of Law. The foreword includes information about the conference theme, its planning and execution, and includes excerpts from the presentations of a number of prominent plenary and keynote speakers, including Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Caroline Fredrickson (the executive director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy), Robert Raben (the president of the Raben Group), Jarrett Barrios (the president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), Prof. Jenny Rivera (professor of law and director …