Oct
5
Amanda Knox and the U.S.-Italian Extradition Treaty
Posted by: Ryan Scoville | October 5, 2011 | 32 Comments
With an Italian appellate court having just overturned Amanda Knox’s murder conviction, the prosecutor on the case, Giuliano Mignini, has stated that he will appeal to have the conviction and sentence reinstated. Meanwhile, Ms. Knox is back in the United States and out of the reach of the Italian government. Given that the prosecutor has [...]
Sep
17
Palestine’s U.N. Membership: Why Does It Matter?
Posted by: Ryan Scoville | September 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Palestinian officials have announced that they will seek a Security Council vote to approve Palestine as a full member of the United Nations next Friday. Israel has strongly opposed the move, and the United States has announced that, if necessary, it will use its veto powers to preclude approval. Why does the membership vote matter? [...]
Sep
9
International Law as a Tool for Ascertaining Gaddafi’s Whereabouts
Posted by: Ryan Scoville | September 9, 2011 | 1 Comment
In a prior post, I explained that the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) has jurisdiction to prosecute Muammar Gaddafi because the Security Council passed a resolution to that effect in February 2011. Utilizing that jurisdiction, the Court issued arrest warrants against Gaddafi, his son, and his military intelligence chief for crimes against humanity in connection with [...]
Aug
28
Fukushima and the Law of the Sea (Part I)
Posted by: Ryan Scoville | August 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Two days ago, Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency disclosed estimates of the volume of radioactive material that has escaped from the Fukushima reactor complex since the March earthquake and tsunami. The agency estimates that the emitted volume of radioactive cesium is approximately 168 times higher than that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end [...]
Aug
22
ICC Jurisdiction Over Gaddafi
Posted by: Ryan Scoville | August 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Last week I wrote that the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) is unlikely to try Syria’s President Assad for crimes against humanity because the Court would probably lack jurisdiction. The Rome Statute—the ICC’s founding treaty—empowers the Court to exercise jurisdiction only with respect to crimes (1) committed within the territory of a state-party, (2) committed by [...]
Aug
19
Syrian Culpability for “Crimes Against Humanity”
Posted by: Ryan Scoville | August 19, 2011 | 3 Comments
Like a handful of other states in the Middle East, Syria has experienced significant domestic political turmoil in recent months, with a sizable and seemingly increasing percentage of its population openly protesting against the autocratic government of Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government has responded with a crackdown comprised of some of the most violent and [...]
Aug
18
The Constitutional Equality of Women
Posted by: Lisa A. Mazzie | August 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment
For young women coming of age today, their equality with men seems assured. As youngsters they’ve played on co-ed sports teams; they’ve often been more successful than boys in school; they’ve pursued careers in previously male-dominated fields like math and science, medicine and law. For them, women have always been able to vote, abortion has [...]
May
26
Whose Right Is It, Anyway?
Posted by: Gabe Johnson-Karp | May 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Although the Supreme Court has yet to release an opinion in American Electric Power v. Connecticut (previously discussed here), many commentators approaching the case from divergent points of view believe that the Court will likely reject the common law public nuisance cause of action, which is based on the power companies’ creation and release of [...]
Apr
19
Israel Reflections–Closing Thoughts
Posted by: Andrea K. Schneider | April 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment
This will be the last post regarding the trip from Israel (at least for now!) and I wanted to close with some of the students’ last reflections and humorous comments about the trip: Most people said I was a little crazy for heading to Israel in my first trip out of the country but what [...]
Apr
13
Israel Reflections–Negotiation Aikido Israeli-Style
Posted by: Andrea K. Schneider | April 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment
On our very last day in Israel, with the sun shining and after spending an hour on the beach, we forced the students back on the bus to Tel Aviv University to have a joint class with Moty Cristal’s class from the International Master’s in Dispute Resolution program. If ever I was worried that the [...]
Apr
9
Israel Reflections–Use of Force & Civilian Targets
Posted by: Andrea K. Schneider | April 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment
In light of the events in Israel earlier this week – Hamas launched a missile attack on an Israeli schoolbus and the Israelis responded with missile attacks into Gaza – one of the speakers from our trip to Israel is particularly on point today. How do you determine an “appropriate” response to the Hamas attack? Here are [...]
Apr
5
Israel Reflections–Restorative Justice
Posted by: Andrea K. Schneider | April 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment
In honor of the RJ conference that Marquette is hosting today (link here for the agenda on clergy abuse and healing), I thought I would post several student reflections on our meeting with the restorative justice group Parent’s Circle when we were in Jerusalem. The Parent’s Circle is a group of bereaved family members on [...]
Blog Editors
- Alan Borsuk
- Bruce E. Boyden
- Edward A. Fallone
- Melissa L. Greipp
- Scott C. Idleman
- Lisa Mazzie
- Michael M. O'Hear
- Ryan Scoville
