Israel took a significant step closer to a constitutional crisis on July 24, 2023, when the controversial “Reasonableness Amendment” passed its final readings in the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset), becoming law by a 64-0 vote that occurred while the opposition left the Knesset in protest. The amendment aims to reshape the grounds for judicial review [...]
The US Supreme Court does not want or need an enforceable code of ethics. As I listen to the reasons given by some members of the Supreme Court to support this position, the words sound strikingly familiar. I have heard the same reasons given by judges in several developing democracies, mostly post-communist countries in Central [...]
With the recent resurgence of discussions surrounding digital identification in Kenya, it is time to take a closer look at the potential benefits and associated risks. In October 2021, the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) introduced in January 2019 and popular as ‘Huduma Namba’, was declared illegal by the High Court for conflicting with [...]
The Afghanistan Independent Bar Association (AIBA) was founded in 2008 with the aim of promoting fair trials, enhancing public trust in the legal profession, fostering collaboration among justice sector stakeholders, fostering the next generation of committed legal professionals, and combating administrative corruption in a country ravaged by war. The Association spurred the rise of a [...]
Today the United States celebrates Juneteenth, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. Juneteenth is the anniversary of the day in 1865 on which Union Major General Gordon Granger informed 200,000 enslaved people in Texas that they were free by executive decree. Juneteenth was a day of joy and celebration, and we [...]
Following global practice — including that of the U.S. military justice system — the Pakistan Army Act builds on maintaining good order and discipline among service members, as no military can effectively function without strict discipline. The court-martial, that is, trial by military officers of breaches of service-connected discipline, including crimes, sits at the heart [...]
Vladimir Putin’s multiple crimes against Ukraine include aggression and genocide. But what happens when these two categories of criminality come together? Among other things, this result is not “merely” additive; it is also synergistic. Hence, the cumulative Russian wrongdoing is actually greater than the calculable sum of its component “parts.” What pertinent connections ought to [...]
On June 6, 2023, an en banc panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(1), the “felon in possession of a firearm” statute, is unconstitutional as applied to one individual, Bryan Range. While the decision purports to be “a narrow one” the rationale that underpins the [...]
Continued attacks on civilians and civilian objects by the armed forces of the Russian Federation violate international law and basic human decency. Over the past centuries, mankind has attempted to govern conduct on the battlefield in the hope that those found on the battlefield, such as the wounded and sick, prisoners of war, and civilians, [...]
Tensions between U.S. presidents and the press date back to George Washington. America’s founding father found himself gnashing his hippopotamus ivory dentures when newspapers accused him of monarchical rule. Few subsequent American leaders have been spared harsh media criticism. Abe Lincoln was lambasted by some of the most influential newspapers of his time for his [...]
