Jurisdiction Commons^™

Kiobel V. Royal Dutch Petroleum: The Alien Tort Statute's Jurisdictional Universalism In Retreat, Kenneth Anderson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell), a long-running Alien Tort Statute (ATS) case brought by Nigerian plaintiffs alleging aiding and abetting liability against various multinational oil companies for human rights violations of the Nigerian government in the 1990s, including a non-US Shell corporation, first came before the US Supreme Court in the 2011-2012 term, following a sweeping Second Circuit holding that there was no "liability for corporations" under the ATS. In oral argument, however, several Justices asked a different question from corporate liability: noting that the case involved foreign plaintiffs, foreign defendants, and conduct taking place entirely on foreign sovereign …

Methods Of Compensating Victims Of War: Combating The Problems Of An Enduring System, Bryan S. Hance

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Substance And Method In The Year 2000, Akhil Reed Amar

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Forums For International Economic Adjudication: Threads In Fragments, Francis N. Botchway

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article challenges the notion of fragmentation in international law, arguing that the proliferation of international adjudicatory bodies, such as the ICJ, WTO DSB, and ECJ, does not lead to fragmentation but instead fosters integration and coherence in international jurisprudence. It highlights the alignment of procedures, shared sources of law, and interpretative approaches among these bodies, demonstrating that institutional diversity enhances efficiency and enriches international law rather than causing discord. The article emphasizes the role of these institutions in addressing complex legal issues, ensuring legal certainty, and promoting transparency and inclusivity in global dispute resolution.

Revisiting Extraterritoriality After Al-Skeini: The Echr And Its Lessons, Barbara Miltner

Michigan Journal of International Law

On July 7, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber, handed down two long-awaited judgments on the subject of the extraterritorial reach and scope of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In both Al-Skeini v. United Kingdom and Al-Jedda v. United Kingdom, the underlying issue was whether or not the United Kingdom was bound by its treaty obligations under the ECHR with regard to its military presence in Iraq. Al-Skeini involved the joined claims of six Iraqi nationals whose relatives were killed while allegedly under U.K. jurisdiction in Iraq; they claimed a lack of …

"By Some Other Means": Considering The Executive's Role In Fostering Subnational Human Rights Compliance, Risa E. Kaufman

Cardozo Law Review

The broad realization of human rights domestically requires strong partnership among all levels of government. Indeed, international and domestic law support an important role for state and local governments in implementing the United States's human rights treaty commitments, with the federal government retaining ultimate responsibility. While the federal government's responsibility is clear, its options for fostering and facilitating subnational compliance have not been fully explicated. The United States's human rights treaty ratification practices and recent Supreme Court jurisprudence primarily constrain the executive's ability to compel state and local compliance without congressional authorization. In the absence of such congressional action, the …

The Fate Of "Unremovable" Aliens Before And After September 11, 2001: The Supreme Court's Presumptive Six-Month Limit To Post-Removal-Period Detention, Megan Peitzke

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Paradigm For The Alien Tort Statute Under Extraterritoriality And The Universality Principle, Jason Jarvis

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Icc Prosecutor V. President Medema: Simulated Proceedings Before The International Criminal Court , Pieter H. F. Bekker, David Stoelting

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

On July 18, 2000, as part of the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association, an all star cast of American and English lawyers gathered in the Common Room of the Law Society of England and Wales in London to simulate oral argument before the International Criminal Court ("ICC"). The fictitious proceedings involved a head of state, President Luis Medema, charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The prosecutors and defense counsel engaged in lively oral argument before the Trial Chamber in the context of three critical issues: (1) jurisdiction of the ICC over citizens of non-state parties; …

A Tort Statute, With Aliens And Pirates, Eugene Kontorovich

Faculty Working Papers

The pirates of the Caribbean are back. Not in another fantastical film but in the litigation over the reach of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). For the first time since they dealt with the legal issues raised by a wave of maritime predation in the Caribbean in the early nineteenth century, Supreme Court justices are seriously discussing piracy. This crime has emerged as the test case for evaluating the major controversies about the reach of the statute -- namely, extraterritorial application and the existence of corporate liability. At oral argument in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell, justices of all persuasions …

Alien Tort Claims And The Status Of Customary International Law, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Much of the recent debate about the status of customary international law in the U.S. legal system has revolved around the alien tort provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789, currently section 1350 of Title 28. In Filártiga v. Peńa-Irala, the decision that launched modern human rights litigation in the United States, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit relied on the view that customary international law has the status of federal common law in upholding section 1350’s grant of federal jurisdiction over a suit between aliens. The court’s position that customary international law was federal law was …

Comity Of Errors: The Overemphasis Of Plaintiff Citizenship In Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act "Takings Exception" Jurisprudence, Todd Grabarsky

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reparations For Displaced Torture Victims, Kathryn Metcalf

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note argues that universal civil jurisdiction is a necessary and viable legal framework to ensure reparations for displaced torture victims, despite challenges such as state immunity and political concerns. It advocates for states to adopt measures like the proposed UK Torture Damages Bill to provide victims with a consistent and reliable path to justice, emphasizing the moral and legal imperative to uphold international prohibitions on torture.

The Girl Next Door: A Comparative Approach To Prostitution Laws And Sex Trafficking Victim Identification Within The Prostitution Industry, Gail M. Deady

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

A Realist Defense Of The Alien Tort Statute, Robert Knowles

Law Faculty Publications

This Article offers a new justification for modern litigation under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), a provision from the 1789 Judiciary Act that permits victims of human rights violations anywhere in the world to sue tortfeasors in U.S. courts. The ATS, moribund for nearly 200 years, has recently emerged as an important but controversial tool for the enforcement of human rights norms. “Realist” critics contend that ATS litigation exasperates U.S. allies and rivals, weakens efforts to combat terrorism, and threatens U.S. sovereignty by importing into our jurisprudence undemocratic international law norms. Defenders of the statute, largely because they do not …

Twenty Years Of Critical Race Theory: Looking Back To Move Forward, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

Faculty Scholarship

This Article revisits the history of Critical Race Theory (CRT) through a prism that highlights its historical articulation in light of the emergence of postracialism. The Article will explore two central inquiries. This first query attends to the specific contours of law as the site out of which CRT emerged. The Article hypothesizes that legal discourse presented a particularly legible template from which to demystify the role of reason and the rule of law in upholding the racial order. The second objective is to explore the contemporary significance of CRT's trajectory in light of today's "post-racial" milieu. The Article posits …

Michelot Yogogombaye V. Republic Of Senegal, Charles C. Jalloh

Articles

No abstract provided.

Everyone Knows Medellin; Has Anyone Heard Of O'Brien? Reconciling The United States And The International Community By Amending The Vccr, 43 J. Marshall L. Rev. 817 (2010), Steven M. Novak

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Precarious Pathways: Evaluating The Provincial Nominee Programs In Canada, Jamie Baxter

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Temporary foreign workers in Canada experience substandard employment relationships, are explicitly denied many formal rights and are practically excluded from most employment protections. Led by a growing emphasis on workers’ temporary status as a root cause of their employment-related vulnerabilities, some advocates, as well as elected officials, are now calling on governments to improve opportunities for workers to attain permanent residency in Canada, primarily for those in lower-skilled occupations. The central aim of this paper is to evaluate whether Provincial Nominee Programs are likely to address the real insecurities faced by vulnerable lower-skilled temporary foreign workers. Given that there are …

Human Rights And Military Decisions: Counterinsurgency And Trends In The Law Of, Dan E. Stigall, Christopher L. Blakesley, Chris Jenks

Scholarly Works

The past several decades have seen a Copernican shift in the paradigm of armed conflict, which the traditional Law of International Armed Conflict (LOIAC) canon has not fully matched. Standing out in stark relief against the backdrop of relative inactivity in LOIAC, is the surfeit of activity in the field of international human rights law, which has become a dramatic new force in the ancient realm of international law. Human rights law, heretofore not formally part of the traditional juridico-military calculus, has gained ever increasing salience in that calculus. Indeed, human rights law has ramified in such a manner that …

Confronting The Past: Democratic Rhetoric Or Socially Necessary?, Rachel Oster

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the current globalized international system, politics, economics, and societal issues are the concern of not only the state but of the world as a whole. It is increasingly apparent that participation in the global community requires states to implement, at minimum, conventional democracy within which individual rights are recognized and protected. Yet for much of the developing world, democratic regimes are partially contested given that many states were historically controlled by non-democratic, often militant regimes that offered security to citizens during times of economic crises.

An Unnecessary Convenience: The Assertion Of The Uniform Code Of Military Justice ("Ucmj") Over Civilians And The Implications Of International Human Rights Law, Dan E. Stigall

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The expansion of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to include jurisdiction over civilians during contingency operations raises significant legal and human rights concerns, particularly regarding due process and equality under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). While the UCMJ aims to maintain military order, its application to civilians may not meet the ICCPR's requirements for necessity and fairness, potentially undermining the U.S.'s international reputation. However, proponents argue that military jurisdiction can sometimes advance human rights and accountability, suggesting a need for balanced solutions.

Double Jeopardy And Multiple Sovereigns: A Jurisdictional Theory, Anthony J. Colangelo

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article offers a coherent way of thinking about double jeopardy rules among sovereigns. Its theory has strong explanatory power for current double jeopardy law and practice in both U.S. federal and international legal systems, recommends adjustments to double jeopardy doctrine in both systems, and sharpens normative assessment of that doctrine.

The Article develops a jurisdictional theory of double jeopardy under which sovereignty signifies independent jurisdiction to make and apply law. Using this theory, the Article recasts the history of the U.S. Supreme Court's dual sovereignty doctrine entirely in terms of jurisdiction, penetrating the opacity of the term sovereign as …

Rebalancing The Scales: Restoring The Availability Of Disparate Impact Causes Of Action In Title Vi Cases, Victor Suthammanont

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Promoting Equality After Genocide, Sheri P. Rosenberg

Articles

The value of equality has little currency after genocide and ethnic cleansing. Restoring that value is no easy feat. Paramount, though not singular, in this struggle for equality is the role of the law A State establishes its common legal rights and duties through its legal institutions, which define the values and character of the nation. Legal institutions mediate these values and norms and through legal pronouncements provide a template for future civic engagement and social interaction. Equality and antidiscrimination jurisprudence is particularly important during the delicate period of transition alter genocide, because it grounds within society the normative shift …

"I'D Grab At Anything. And I'D Forget." Domestic Violence Victim Testimony After Davis V. Washington, 41 J. Marshall L. Rev. 937 (2008), Nancee Alexa Barth

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introductory Note To Genocide Accountability Act, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

On December 21, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 (GAA) (Public Law 110-151). Co-sponsored on a bipartisan basis by several Senators, this bill passed in the Senate on March 29, 2007, and passed in the House .of Representatives on December 5, 2007, in both cases by voice vote. The GAA received considerable support from human rights groups throughout the legislative process.

Military Jurisdiction, The Right Not To Be Tried, And The Suspension Clause After Boumediene, Stephen I. Vladeck

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Taking Liberties: The Personal Jurisdiction Of Military Commissions, Madeline Morris

Faculty Scholarship

On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda operatives attacked civilian and military targets on US territory, causing thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of economic loss. The next day, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1368 characterizing the attack by Al Qaeda as a "threat to international peace and security" and recognizing the right of states to use armed force in self defense.

Inter-American System, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.