I’ll be on KABC Radio at the heart of the Conspiracy – LA (AM 790) at 0615 Monday, discussing the constitutionality of the ObamaCare Fix on the Doug McIntyre Show. Live streaming available here.
Author Archive | Eugene Kontorovich
The Constitutionality of the ObamaCare “Fix”
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 14, 2013 1:25 pm in Congress, Constitutional Law, Executive Branch, Health Care, Obama, Separation of Powers, Uncategorized
President Obama in his speech on “fixing” the Affordable Care Act today did not specify what statutory authority, if any, he thinks authorizes him to make such dictats. Given the gargantuan length of the ObamaCare statute, he might still be looking. Press reports say the President is claiming a broad “enforcement discretion.” It is true […]
New Paper: “Kiobel Surprise: Unexpected by Scholars But Consistent with International Trends”
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 12, 2013 2:54 pm in Alien Tort Statute, Federal Jurisdiction, International Law, Law Reviews, Legal Scholarship, Supreme Court
My article on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum is up on SSRN. It is forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review‘s Federal Courts Issue. Here is the abstract; comments on the article are welcome: The unanimous ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum blind-sided the legal academy. The case involved one of the most contentious […]
Are Conservative Judges Better? Evidence from Geoff Stone
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 5, 2013 9:25 am in Apppellate Procedure, Conservatism, Judicial Conduct, Judicial Power, Supreme Court
Prof. Geoff Stone argues that conservative Supreme Court justices are more ideologically inflexible and less meritocratic than their liberal counterparts. His evidence for this is that Of the 20 law clerks appointed this Term by the five conservative Justices — Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and Alito, 18 of the 20 — or an astonishing 90 […]
International Law Imperialism vs. Proceduralism
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 29, 2013 4:46 pm in Global Governance/World Government, International Law
My op-ed on the African Union and the International Criminal Court at the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (also a good takes at EJIL:Talk and Dov Jacobs): Let us distinguish between the broad currents in international legal thought – what I would call international law “proceduralists” versus “imperialists.” International law has traditionally been procedural–what counts […]
Does Nigeria Share Responsibility for Pirate Attack on US Sailors?
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 24, 2013 10:24 am in International Law, National Security, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Two Americans have been kidnapped off an oil supply vessel off of Nigeria by local pirates, according to breaking new accounts. Nigeria, like many nations, has been making it difficult for private security contractors to work off its shores. For example, it has recently arrested 15 Russian sailors from a ship operated by a security […]
African States Not Quitting ICC, Just Undermining From Within
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 22, 2013 11:50 am in Global Governance/World Government, International Human Rights Law, International Law
[This is en excerpt from an op-ed/short essay I’ve written on the AU action, which is available for publication…] African Union leaders met in an extraordinary summit in Adas Ababa last week to discuss their strained relations with the International Criminal Court (ICC), as it begins trying its first sitting head of state, President Uhuru […]
New Report on EU’s “Settlement Guidelines” for Israel
The Kohelet Policy Forum, a Jerusalem think tank, has released a legal and policy analysis, by Prof. Avi Bell and myself, of the European Commission’s recent “settlement guidelines” – a ban on funding Israeli entities located across, or, more importantly, conducting any “activities” in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and Gaza. I’ve […]
A Market for State Borders
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 17, 2013 7:39 am in Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Federalism, Legal Scholarship, Secession
Following up on my earlier post on parts of a state seceding to join another state, I’d like to call attention to a neat article by Joseph Blocher, coming out in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, entitled “Selling State Borders.” It suggests such political redrawing can be accomplished through sales between states, and shows […]
Belgium’s Remarkable Capture of Pirate Ringleader
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 16, 2013 6:48 am in International Law, National Security, Uncategorized
Belgium has captured a senior Somali pirate kingpin in a remarkable operation. The leader of a pirate group, he had long been sought for hijacking a Belgian vessel in 2009. Now, undercover agents lured him and an associate to the Low Countries by pretending to be documentary film makers interested in making a movie about […]
The ICC Rules Libyan Case Inadmissible
The International Criminal Court today for the first time ruled a case inadmissible, and left the matter to domestic justice. Doubtless the anti-activist ruling has nothing to do with the confab of African countries today, called together by Kenya to discuss quitting the Court’s jurisdiction en masse in protest of the Court doing its job […]
How Best to Secede from a State
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 11, 2013 5:52 am in Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Elections, Federalism, Originalism, Secession, Uncategorized
Some spirit of secession has spread across the land, with various areas in Maryland, Colorado, Texas, California and elsewhere discussing seceding from their states, because of political alienation arising from significant differences in values and preferences. I don’t take the political prospects of American secession movements too seriously, and assume their principal purpose is to […]
Europe’s Proposed Circumcision Ban: How Far Back We’ve Gone While Making Progress
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 4, 2013 10:12 am in Anti-Semitism, Circumcision Bans, Democracy, Jewish Culture, Religion, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, Uncategorized
The Council of Europe in Strasbourg has recommended nations consider banning child circumcision. Jewish groups, and the State of Israel, are predictably outraged by the recommendation, which if adopted would make traditional (and not just religious) Jewish life impossible on the Continent. Thus the law has been denounced as anti-Semitic. While I have recently criticized […]
What Russia’s Piracy Charges Against Greenpeace Mean for International Law
Amazingly, Russia has brought criminal piracy charges against the crew of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, which it had arrested on the high seas. The piracy charges make a mockery of international law, for reasons I’ve discussed. Moreover, such clearly abusive and politicized piracy charges are quite unprecedented in modern history, as far as I […]
How the EU Continues to Fund Settlements in Occupied Territory
The EU recently issued guidelines blocking research and other grants to Israeli institutions with activities (archeological digs, etc.) across the Green Line. In the yesterday’s Jerusalem Post I reveal that the EU continues to actively fund settlements in occupied territory, against their own understanding of international law: Under guidelines prepared earlier this summer, euros would […]