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Fraud Charges (Finally!) Brought Against Gary Bolton, Jim McCormick, and Four...
Last week, the UK finally brought criminal charges against Jim McCormick, of ATSC, Ltd., for his role in the manufacturing and distribution of his worthless “bomb detectors.” These devices — the...
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The Trojan Horse in Kiobel: Royal Dutch Shell’s Conflation of Prescriptive...
When the Supreme Court decided to rehear arguments in Kiobel, it instructed the parties to address the following question: Whether and under what circumstances the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350,...
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Susan’s Theory of the Secret Fifth Amendment in Kiobel, as explained via gchat
Michael: I had a thought The entire United States argument against extraterritorial application in this case is built around something like act-of-state doctrine. Why don’t we just apply act-of-state...
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Why Won’t Romney Explain His Tax Plan? Because the Romney Tax Plan is the...
The contents of Romney’s tax plan, like the contents of Romney’s personal tax returns, have been a continuing enigma throughout Romney’s election campaign. All the tax policy issue has taken a backseat...
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The Senkaku Islands, Pt. I: UNCLOS, the EEZ, and the Conflict Between Land-...
In the East China Sea, north off the coast of Taiwan and south off the coast of Okinawa, there exists an island chain consisting of five small islets, and three smaller rocks. These islands — known as...
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Argentina’s Sham Annex VII Arbitration and ITLOS’ Provisional Ruling on the...
On October 2, 2012, the Ghanaian government detained an Argentinian “warship”, the ARA Libertad, that had been docked at the Ghanaian port of Tema while on a cadet training mission. As a matter of...
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A Brief History of the Solemn Salute Under International Law, and the...
In my previous post on Argentina’s procedural victory over Ghana in the ARA Libertad case, I talked about how Argentina used the UNCLOS’ dispute resolution procedures to get an expedited provisional...
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Annex VII Arbitration, Annex V Mandatory Conciliation, and China’s...
There are nine states that have coastline along the South China Sea: the People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. There have...
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Google Earth Collection of the Disputed Territorial Claims in the South China...
Trying to keep track of all the contested territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea can be difficult. There are hundreds of islands, reefs, rocks, and submerged shoals that are in...
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Thinking Like a Lawyer and the Inverted Scientific Method
In Michael’s last post, he covered Brian Leiter’s histrionic reaction to an e-mail that challenged Leiter’s knowledge of what it means to “think like a lawyer,” due to Leiter’s lack of experience at...
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R v McCormick: The ADE651 on Trial
James McCormick, the British businessman behind ATSC Ltd. and its phony bomb detectors, was finally brought to trial this week in London, facing charges of criminal fraud for his role in selling the...
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Identifying Dogs by Name: The Supreme Court’s Unequal Treatment of Aldo and...
This term, the Supreme Court handed down two opinions regarding whether a dog’s sniff is constitutionally admissible evidence. Although the sample size is small, there is an apparent distinction...
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Defending Prohibitions on Interracial and Same-Sex Marriages: The More Things...
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard two cases concerning the government’s ability to prohibit same-sex marriages. In Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Court considered the state of California’s...
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Kiobel’s Bowman Problem: Where the Legislature Has Enacted Laws to Defend the...
Last week, in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, et al., the Supreme Court deviated from its prior two decisions under the ATS, and held that the ATS does not confer jurisdiction over violations of the...
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Thomas Jefferson Disagrees with the Supreme Court’s Decision in Kiobel
In 1792, Thomas Jefferson, as the first Secretary of State, made note of complaints that had been lodged against the U.S. by both Spain and France. In different incidents, citizens of Georgia had...
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The Extraterritorial Effect of Respublica v. De Longchamps
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum held that the presumption against extraterritoriality applies to common law causes of action under the ATS, and that there is no...
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Edmund Randolph Also Disagrees With the Supreme Court’s Decision in Kiobel
Oliver Ellsworth, as the primary drafter of the Judiciary Act of 1789, tends to get the lion’s share of the credit for the enactment of the Alien Tort Statute. Often overlooked in the history of the...
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How EEOC v. Arabian American Oil Co. Invented the Modern Presumption Against...
The presumption against extraterritoriality (“PAE”), like all canons of construction, is a shorthand rule of interpretation used by judges to determine how a statute should be applied. Under the PAE,...
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How to Put a Computer in a Picture Frame
My home computer died last week, as a result of what appears to have been a suicide pact between my CPU and my motherboard. That’s my excuse for the lack of recent updates, anyway. But while I didn’t...
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The Defense’s Opening Statement Fails to Address George Zimmerman’s...
Today was the start of the George Zimmerman trial, and what I have seen so far of the recaps from the defense’s opening arguments have been painful to watch. Even ignoring Don West’s cringe-inducing...
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