Human Rights Law Commons^™

Inscribing Lesbian And Gay Identities: How Judicial Imaginations Intertwine With The Best Interests Of Children, Christopher Carnahan

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the legal challenges faced by same-sex parents in adoption and child custody cases, highlighting the evolving definition of family and the impact of court rulings on children's best interests. It critiques the use of formal definitions of family and advocates for a functional approach that prioritizes children's welfare, emphasizing the need for legal recognition of diverse family structures.

Russia's 'Dictatorship Of Law' And The European Court Of Human Rights, Jeffrey D. Kahn

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article is an adaptation of a lecture given at St. Antony's College, Oxford on 5 July 2003 in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at Oxford University. The author evaluates the effect of the European Convention on Human Rights on Russian law and politics. Russia has been a signatory to the Convention for five years. The author argues that the full power of the Convention as a force for reform in Russia was unanticipated at the time of Russia's accession. Nevertheless, the Convention has been the catalyst for substantial reforms, especially …

Transnational Law As A Domestic Resource Thoughts On The Case Of Women's Rights, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Return To Europe? The Czech Republic And The Eu's Influence On Its Treatment Of Roma, Matthew D. Marden

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Czech Republic has faced much criticism in the past fifteen years for the treatment of its Romani minority community. The European Union has successfully applied informal, non-legal means of pressuring the Czech Republic into making some changes necessary to improve living conditions for Roma. With the Czech Republic's recent accession to the European Union, legal human rights institutions will likely play a larger role in ensuring that the Czech Republic continues to improve conditions for Czech Roma. The Author uses a case brought by a group of Roma at the European Court of Human Rights to demonstrate the potential …

The Lives Of Animals, The Lives Of Prisoners, And The Revelations Of Abu Ghraib, Charles H. Brower, Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Brower suggests that the images depicting inhuman treatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison contain timely lessons about the function and the importance of legal personality. To illustrate this thesis, the Author first identifies animals as a population condemned to an existence bereft of the protections that accompany legal personality. Next, the Author describes the chilling similarities between the treatment of animals and the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and in the so-called "Global War on Terror." Finally, the Author discusses three potential lessons for a nation widely perceived to have retreated from its commitment …

Expansion And Restriction: Competing Pressures On United Kingdom Asylum Policy, Elizabeth Keyes

All Faculty Scholarship

Analysis of asylum policy in the United Kingdom thus requires examination of the complex interaction between domestic and international pressures, between legislative and judicial action, and between expansionism and restrictionism. In Part I, this paper considers the history of asylum in the UK through the 1990s, looking at the changes that occurred over the 20th century, and the international legal obligations at the core of the UK's asylum policy. The paper specifically addresses Britain's new commitments to European Union asylum policies, and the ways in which Britain's overall relationship with the EU affects Britain's domestic asylum policy. In Part II, …

Constitutional Dialogue And Human Dignity: States And Transnational Constitutional Discourse, Vicki C. Jackson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The U.S. Supreme Court has been slower than some other national courts to become familiar with and discuss, distinguish, or borrow from related constitutional approaches of other nations and systems. The growth in transnational judicial discourse, especially on constitutional issues relating to human rights, has been remarked by many. National courts in Argentina, Botswana, Canada, Germany, India, South Africa, and elsewhere not infrequently refer to the constitutional jurisprudence of other nations in resolving domestic constitutional questions. Although such references are not unheard of in the United States, transnational discourse involving national courts, supranational and international tribunals is still subject to …

A Theory Of Crimes Against Humanity, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The answer I offer in this Article is that crimes against humanity assault one particular aspect of human being, namely our character as political animals. We are creatures whose nature compels us to live socially, but who cannot do so without artificial political organization that inevitably poses threats to our well-being, and, at the limit, to our very survival. Crimes against humanity represent the worst of those threats; they are the limiting case of politics gone cancerous. Precisely because we cannot live without politics, we exist under the permanent threat that politics will turn cancerous and the indispensable institutions of …

War Everywhere: Rights, National Security Law, And The Law Of Armed Conflict In The Age Of Terror, Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Both international and domestic law take as a basic premise the notion that it is possible, important, and usually fairly straightforward to distinguish between war and peace, emergencies and normality, the foreign and the domestic, the external and the internal. From an international law perspective, the law of armed conflict is triggered only when a armed conflict actually exists; the rest of the time, other bodies of law are applicable. Domestically, U.S. courts have developed a constitutional and statutory jurisprudence that distinguishes between national security issues and domestic questions, with the courts subjecting government actions to far less scrutiny when …

The Non-Monetary Value Of Reparations Rhetoric, Emma Coleman Jordan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

I have several comments to offer on the subject of reparations. Reparations is not a single idea. The forty acres and a mule that General Sherman promised to the slaves was the beginning of the idea of reparations in America, but not the end. Reparations is a multi-part idea; until we get that straight, we are vulnerable to the feeling that we are lost again. There are at least three arenas in which the reparations issue may be contested. One is the political arena. In the arena of legislation and political maneuvering, bills must be submitted for majoritarian acceptance. It …

The Human Rights Of Persons With Mental Disabilities: A Global Perspective On The Application Of Human Rights Principles To Mental Health, Lawrence O. Gostin, Lance Gable

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article examines the human rights of persons with mental disabilities and the application and development of these rights by the various international and regional systems that have been established to protect human rights. An international system of human rights with universal application has been developed under the auspices of the United Nations. Regional human rights systems have applied additional human rights protections to their respective geographic regions. Both the international and regional systems have addressed the human rights of persons with mental disabilities through treaties, declarations, and thematic resolutions. Moreover, regional institutions have incrementally formulated a body of law …

Homophobia And The “Matthew Shepard Effect” In Lawrence V. Texas, Kris Franklin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Partnership In The U.K. – Some International Problems, Barry Crown

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Our Right To Work, Our Demand To Be Heard: People With Disabilities, The 2004 Election, And Beyond, The Honorable Tony Coelho

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Degrees Of Freedom: Building Citizenship In The Shadow Of Slavery, Rebecca J. Scott

Articles

By seeing events in the past as part of a dynamically evolving system with a large, but not indefinite, number of degrees of freedom, we can turn our attention to the multiple possibilities for change, and to the ways in which societies that are initially similarly situated may go on to diverge very sharply. Thus it is, I will argue, with societies in the 19th century that faced the challenge of building citizenship on the ruins of slavery.

Contemplating Failure And Creating Alternatives In The Balkans: Bosnia's Peoples, Democracy And The Shape Of Self-Determination, Timothy W. Waters

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A decade after Dayton, Bosnia is a fictive, failed state held together by outsiders' weapons and outsiders' will. All parties recognize that Bosnia's current constitutional dispensation is dysfunctional and are calling for change, but how should the international community respond? In deciding, we should recognize that we may owe Bosnians much, but we owe Bosnia nothing.

This Article argues that traditional self-determination doctrine is unable to justify either further claims for secession from Bosnia or Bosnia's own original secession. It examines the processes used by the international community to frame the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the recognition process for Bosnia, …

Fighting The Axis Of Illness: Hiv/Aids, Human Rights, And U.S. Foreign Policy, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Journal Of The National Human Rights Commission, India, Jayanth K. Krishnan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Paradoxes Of Health And Equality: When A Boy Becomes A Girl, Noa Ben-Asher

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In the fall of 2000, six-year-old male Zachary from a small town in Ohio, claimed that s/he was a girl and requested, from now on, to be called Aurora. When the child's parents honored this unusual wish and made efforts to make official the child's feminine identity, the case turned into a custody battle between the parents and the state of Ohio. Although the child was occasionally treated as a girl at home from the age of two, the attempt to register the child in public school as a girl motivated the state dissolution of this family. At the …

The Human Right To Housing: Making The Case In U.S. Advocacy, Maria Foscarinis, Brad Paul, Bruce Porter, Andrew Scherer

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Homophobia And The 'Mathew Shepard Effect' In Lawrence V. Texas, Kris Franklin

Articles & Chapters

This paper explores the significance of shifting cultural understandings of gay men and lesbians in the Supreme Court's majority, concurring and dissenting opinions in the landmark sodomy case Lawrence v. Texas. By examining the legal authorities in which the case's various opinions are grounded, the article shows that the differing positions taken by the Court reflect radically diverging views on the significance of homosexuality in contemporary culture.

Beyond the rather easy observation that the Supreme Court justices are speaking different languages in the Lawrence opinion, the article contends that the rhetoric of the majority and dissent converge on at least …

International Human Rights Standards In International Organizations: The Case Of International Criminal Courts, Kenneth S. Gallant

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Hero - Coretta Scott King, Stephen Wermiel

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

An Offer Of Firm Resettlement, Robert D. Sloane

Faculty Scholarship

The Attorney General lacks discretion to grant asylum to any refugee "if, prior to arrival in the United States, he or she entered into another nation with, or while in that nation received, an offer of permanent resident status, citizenship, or some other type of permanent resettlement." This rule, the doctrine of firm resettlement, is unique among the mandatory bars to asylum in the United States. It does not reflect a societal judgment about the moral fitness of an asylum applicant's character-as, for example, does the bar that prohibits granting asylum to persons with a history of violent criminal behavior. …

Compliance Without Remands: The Experience Under The European Convention On Human Rights, John Cary Sims

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Agency Costs In International Human Rights, David H. Moore

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fundamental Human Rights Compared In Two Progressive Constitutions: Japan And Montana, Fritz Snyder

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article focuses on certain of the fundamental or inalienable rights of the Japan Constitution and compares and contrasts them with their counterparts in the Montana Constitution.

Not If, But When?: Dismantling The Florida Adoption Act Of 2001, Andrew T. Binstock

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note critiques the notice provision of the Adoption Act of 2001, arguing that it unjustly required single mothers to publish personal details in newspapers, violating privacy rights under the Due Process Clause and the Florida Constitution. The provision was ultimately invalidated by the Fourth District Court of Appeals, reflecting a broader tension between protecting fathers' rights and safeguarding mothers' privacy. The legislature's repeal of the notice requirement and the establishment of a voluntary putative father registry marked a shift toward balancing these interests while respecting reproductive autonomy.

Maybe Not The Best Solution, But A Solution: The German Foundation Agreement, Jolie Bell

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This note will question whether the processes devised by the Agreement really favor survivors, helping them to realize some form of compensation for their insurance polices. Despite the efforts of the Agreement to prevent litigation of such insurance claims, there are still cases being filed, and legislation being proposed, to try to facilitate compensatory actions at a faster pace. While the Agreement on its face seems to be a welcome solution to the vast amount of litigation, it may be that the Agreement was a convenient way for Germany to dispose of the hundreds of thousands of life insurance policy …

Inter-American System, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.