At JustSecurity, Ryan Goodman challenges the methodology of Amnesty International’s updated report of universal jurisdiction, which finds the vast majority of nations implement UJ in their legislation. Prof. Goodman argues Amnesty over-counts (see Kevin Jon Heller’s dissent). Yet even if Amnesty’s numbers are accurate, they may actually paint a dismal picture of UJ. The broader […]
Archive | Federal Jurisdiction
Thanksgiving for Purported Pirates in Russia and the U.S.
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 28, 2013 8:00 am in Criminal Law, Federal Jurisdiction, International Law, National Security, Russia
It is a happy Thanksgiving for defendants in two very different piracy cases – the trial of Ali, a Somali education official arrested while attending an education conference in the U.S., and the crew of Greenpeace’s ship Arctic Sunrise, arrested by Russia last month while minding Russia’s business on an oil rig. I’ve written about […]
The Obamacare Fix’s Legality, State Law and Standing
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 23, 2013 12:33 pm in Constitutional Law, Federal Jurisdiction, Health Care, Standing, State Constitutional Law
I have a piece in POLITICO discussing the constitutional problems with the ObamaCare fix, which have been previewed here before. One aspect is whether state officials can ignore ObamaCare and instead apply “The Fix.” Regardless of the discretion President Obama has, state officials do not have enforcement discretion over federal law. It is just supreme, […]
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 […]
My SCOTUSBlog Argument Recap of Walden v. Fiore
There were a lot of high-profile cases argued at the Court this week, but one case that was argued was Walden v. Fiore, the personal-jurisdiction/venue dispute about a deputized DEA agent who seized a bunch of money from some professional gamblers. I’ve posted my assessment of the oral argument at SCOTUSBlog: As the first few […]
My SCOTUSBlog Argument Preview on Walden v. Fiore
I have just posted my first post as an occasional blogger on SCOTUSBlog — a preview of the argument next week in Walden v. Fiore. An excerpt: The facts sound like the beginning of one of the Court’s many constitutional tort cases. Gina Fiore and Keith Gipson are professional gamblers who were — like millions […]
Colgan on Retroactive Sentencing for Juvenile Offenders
A month ago, I linked to a short post I wrote for the New York Times about retroactive sentencing for juvenile offenders under Miller v. Alabama. In the piece, I was skeptical that the Court’s decision would be retroactive under federal law, since the Supreme Court’s decision focused on the right to a hearing. My […]
Supreme Court Discussion of Academic Amicus Brief
An academic amicus brief got heavy attention in the Supreme Court today (and no, it wasn’t Steve Sachs’s — that case will be argued Wednesday). As Lyle Denniston explains at SCOTUSBlog, in Madigan v. Levin, an age discrimination case from the Seventh Circuit, “a brief that had been filed by law professors who specialize in […]