Oct

25

Google: Changing Laws Around the World

October 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

As both sides of the Google books controversy try to work on a revised settlement before the new November 9th deadline, the effects continue to ripple across the globe: on Monday, the European Commission announced plans to work on revising copyright law in the EU. Citing the need to compete on the digital frontier, Commissioner [...]

Nov

28

International Law: Still Pretty Messy

November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

On October 30th, Professor Combs gave the 2008 Blackstone lecture. The topic of her lecture was “Factfinding in International Criminal Law: The Appearance, the Reality, and the Future”.
After a brief overview of the course modern international criminal law has taken from the Nuremburg trials to today, Professor Combs turned to the focus of her talk: [...]

Apr

4

Telecom Spying– You Are Still Not Safe

April 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

You’re still not safe because there’s still no terrorism exception to the rule of law. That was the message from the Attorney General this week in his address to the Commonwealth Club of California. After his initial remarks (which were on the ongoing effort to fight public corruption) he solicited a question on [...]

Feb

14

Senate Immunizes Warrantless Wiretapping

February 14, 2008 | 2 Comments

Jim Webb, John Warner, and a supermajority of the Senate (68-29), just sold you out. The Senate just passed a bill which would excuse the telecommunications companies for violating the rights that same Senate conferred upon you. Make no mistake, there hasn’t been the slightest suggestion that what they did was legal. [...]

Jan

30

Alien vs. (Human Rights) Predator

January 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) of 1789 grants jurisdiction to United States federal courts over “any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. 1350 (2006).
Though perhaps seemingly bland in its one-sentence text, the significant [...]

Aug

31

A Constitution for the Oceans?

August 31, 2007 | 2 Comments

When recently perusing the website of the Hamilton Project (an excellent consortium of progressive-leaning policy papers), I came across something that I never knew existed. To my surprise a comprehensive framework, established under the imprimateur of the United Nations, exists that seeks to set forth rules governing the uses of the non-territorial oceans (i.e., the [...]