Whether international law has the capacity to establish the rule of law is a question one may well ask today as the world witnesses crimes against humanity committed in Israel against entire families, including babies, their siblings, parents and grandparents, and as Ukraine has entered a second year of fighting Russia’s invasion of its land, [...]
In its euthanasia guidelines, the American Veterinary Medical Association advises against the use of nitrogen gas to kill rats. And yet Alabama is pushing ahead with plans to experiment with using the gas to execute its condemned. Even defendants convicted of the cruelest of murders cannot, except for cynically and spitefully, be said to be [...]
“For by Wise Counsel, Thou Shalt Make Thy War.” Proverbs 24,6 Israel’s nuclear posture remains closely held. On its face, this “ambiguous” stance appears perfectly reasonable. But a critically core question should now be raised: Is unmodified deliberate nuclear ambiguity (the “bomb in the basement”) still in the long-term survival interests of the beleaguered state. [...]
It is unbearable to observe the events of the last few days in the Middle Eastern region, especially between Israel and Palestine with anything other than shock and horror. These events have left us deeply disturbed, our hearts heavy with the distressing images of death, destruction, and suffering, as we mourn all the dead. At [...]
As regions of the world grapple with the devastating impacts of climate change, Kenya’s Climate Change Amendment Act stands as landmark legislation that shifts the trajectory of the nation’s commitment to climate justice. The amendment serves as a comprehensive and forward-looking response to the escalating climate crisis. The Act introduces innovative provisions aimed at aligning [...]
In response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians, Israel mounted Operation Swords of Iron. Although international law allows for certain limited uses of insurgent force, including uses directed toward “self-determination,” these residual allowances do not include any rights of indiscriminate violence or of deliberate attacks on noncombatants. “Revenge,” of course, is [...]
Editor’s note on historical context: On Sept. 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Germany, France and Italy, which allowed Berlin to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Upon his return, Chamberlain said of the agreement: “…for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from [...]
As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop, it is time to reexamine the ways in which lyrics are used in legal proceedings by examining the bias held for the art form. While the birth of hip hop has spurred international conversations about the realities of living in under-resourced communities, it has also been [...]
In November of 1985, legendary liberal Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. declared, “the fatal constitutional infirmity of capital punishment is that it treats members of the human race as non-humans, as objects to be toyed with and discarded.” With Alabama primed to gas condemned prisoners to death with nitrogen — and with other [...]
The “Texas Lawyer’s Creed” was promulgated by the Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on November 7, 1989. Established to eliminate abusive tactics within the practice of law, it was thought to be a seminal moment in the legal profession; the culmination of months of hard work and spirited debate [...]
