Scarcely three years after the largest protests against racism in U.S. history, a majority of the Supreme Court this week is expected to declare acts of racial consciousness in college admissions unlawful. At oral argument for the two cases, six justices were openly dismissive of the notion that more than three centuries of de jure [...]
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 [...]
The past few years have seen a proliferation of online misinformation, accompanied by the growth of the fact-checking industry. This industry has evolved into a matured sector with its own funding sources and investments from major companies, which may have their own agendas. These companies are actively seeking to influence and control the industry, highlighting [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
June 4 marks the centennial of Meyer v. Nebraska, in which the US Supreme Court commenced its modern role as the guardian of non-economic personal liberties by striking down laws in Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio that prohibited the teaching of German to elementary school children. Meyer itself remains a vital cornerstone for the protection of [...]
In jurisprudential matters, whether national or international, precedent remains vitally important. When former (and possibly future) US President Donald J. Trump issued illegal pardons to selected American officials for established crimes against international law, the consequences reverberated in other countries. Now, with still-mounting Russian crimes against Ukraine – crimes of war; crimes against peace; and crimes [...]
In February 2022, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published a report, accusing Facebook of inciting ethnic violence and disseminating misinformation in Ethiopia. A senior government official condemned the tech giant, accusing it of standing idle as the nation descended into chaos. Yet, as previously announced, the Ethiopian government refused to sit by idly and pledged [...]
Civil action and criminal prosecution are the two great substitutes invented by law to replace revenge, a deeply wired instinct among humans expressed in a Mesopotamian maxim, an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. In Pakistan, most ironically, civil litigation and criminal prosecution have become the revenge instrument, particularly among ruling elites fighting [...]
