Author Archive | Eric Posner

So, to my mind at least, the whole theory that that there is such a thing as tort responsibility of individuals or non-state actors in international law is completely unsupported. If I commit a crime against humanity and incur individual criminal responsibility at the international level, that does not mean that I have simultaneously incurred […]

Why doesn

We all knew that President Obama, like President Bush, would have to defend Americans from a ruthless foreign organization

Consider two approaches

disputed. The debate about his nomination to legal advisor at State so far features a breathless New York Post article, a bland and uninformative Times article, an indignant piece in Slate, and much huffing and puffing by bloggers who, with a small number of honorable exceptions, have refrained from discussing Koh’s ideas. Koh is best […]

Here you can find some thoughts on the emerging evidence of the Obama administration’s position on executive power (written with Curt Bradley). And below a bloggingheads segment with Jack Balkin (I am the barely sentient one of the two speakers, not yet recovered from a vacation). Do emergencies help presidents or hurt them? I say […]

Ilya discusses Michael Stern’s response to Strauss here. I agree that Strauss puts too much faith in a fluff ball of legalese. Here

Peter Strauss, the Columbia law professor, responds to my last post: One element of this signing statement was the following: Executive Authority to Control Communications with the Congress. Sections 714(1) and 714(2) in Division D prohibit the use of appropriations to pay the salary of any Federal officer or employee who interferes with or prohibits […]

Here. A few days ago, President Obama explained that he would issue such statements more responsibly and sparingly than Bush did. Bush used the same constitutional theories that Clinton, Bush I, and Reagan did; what was distinctive about President Bush

Dawn Johnsen, who has been nominated to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice and appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation hearings Wednesday, hopes to clean the Augean stables. Johnsen

In the words of the Times: The missile strikes on training camps run by Baitullah Mehsud represent a broadening of the American campaign inside Pakistan, which has been largely carried out by drone aircraft. Under President Bush, the United States frequently attacked militants from Al Qaeda and the Taliban involved in cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, […]

to my post on his Slate essay: The characteristically sharp-penned Eric Posner seems to me to miss the mark here. Lincoln as pragmatist is exactly the point I made in the piece (a well-worn idea about Lincoln, I concede, though it is not usually applied to the international laws of war). Lincoln began the war […]

Such is the surprising albeit unintended message of John Fabian Witt

Todd’s Wall Street Journal op-ed makes many good points but it doesn’t address the main argument for bankruptcy reform. The basic problem posed by the housing crisis is that millions of people find themselves with negative equity and rationally abandon their homes. Banks have trouble seizing, maintaining, and selling these houses, and bankers will tell […]

to my comments (in italics) on their proposal: 1. If it has ex ante effects (that is, creditors expect that in any future financial crisis, the government will do the same), then it will help reinflate a credit and housing bubble. Loan servicers, creditors, and homeowners can divide ex ante the future government bounty. By […]