- U.N. children’s-rights treaty oversight committee seeks ban on foundling baby boxes [Global Post, Telegraph, Vancouver Province]
- BoJo has mojo: as sentiment burgeons in UK to quit European Union in whole or part, London Mayor Boris Johnson is listening [Reason]
- History of Chevron Lago Agrio litigation to date [Seeking Alpha, earlier]
- In Dubai talks, Western nations putting up stouter resistance to proposed International Telecommunications Union takeover of internet governance [Chicago Tribune, earlier here, etc.]
- Obama backs global arms trade treaty, Second Amendment groups deeply suspicious [David Kopel, Zachary Snider/TheDC, earlier, Ryan Scoville/Prawfs with contrary view)]
- 130-page resource guide to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [DoJ/SEC, earlier]
- “The immensely complex and burdensome conflict minerals disclosure debacle” [Bainbridge, earlier here, etc.]
Posts Tagged ‘United Nations’
We *told* you UN treaties were a problem
“The head of the United Nations’ International Narcotics Control Board is calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to legally challenge marijuana ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington.” It seems the U.S. is a signatory to a U.N.-drafted 1961 treaty under which nations agree to “adopt such measures as may be necessary to prevent the misuse of, and illicit traffic in, the leaves of the cannabis plant.” [Mike Riggs, Reason; Jacob Sullum]
November 13 roundup
- New law grads and others, come work for liberty at the Cato Institute’s legal associate program [Ilya Shapiro]
- Lawsuit against United Nations seeks compensation for mass cholera outbreak in Haiti [Kristen Boon, Opinio Juris]
- “Parents Sue Energy Drink After Girl’s Death” [NBC Washington; Hagerstown, Md.] “The New York Times Reveals That 18 Servings of an Energy Drink Might Be Excessive” [Jacob Sullum]
- Claim: There is no explosion of patent litigation [Adam Mossoff, Truth on the Market, and further]
- “After Inmates Sue for Dental Floss, Jailers Explain the Security Risk” [ABA Journal, earlier]
- Court: First Amendment protects right of “The Bachelor” producers to consider contestants’ race [Volokh, earlier]
- From Florida tobacco litigation to an, um, interesting higher-education startup [Inside Higher Ed, h/t Overlawyered commenter Jeff H.]
Free speech roundup
- Australia: after talk displeasing to authorities, popular radio host ordered to undergo “factual accuracy training” [Sydney Morning Herald]
- Jenzabar loses an appeal against documentary filmmaker [Paul Alan Levy, CL&P; earlier here, etc.]
- “A Few Words On Reddit, Gawker, and Anonymity” [Popehat]
- Canada: “Federal Court Upholds Hate Speech Provisions in the Canadian Human Rights Act” [Yosie Saint-Cyr, Slaw] “Canadian Government Official Calls Anti-Abortion Speech Illegal ‘Bullying'” [Hans Bader, CEI, Amy Alkon]
- U.N.-regulated web? No thanks [Robert McDowell, Federalist Society, earlier here, etc.]
- Further thoughts from Kevin Underhill on being sued by Orly Taitz [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
- U.S. State Department official: we’re not just going to roll over on this free speech business [Volokh]
“International monitors at US polling spots”
Great moments in international human rights: “United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups … Liberal-leaning civil rights groups met with representatives from the OSCE this week.” OSCE stands for “Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects.” [Alexander Bolton, The Hill]
More: Julian Ku writes that although the OSCE is transnational, it is not “U.N.-affiliated,” and notes that contrary to some speculation, the observers’ appearance was unrelated to a separate request to the U.N. by the NAACP asking it to regulate voting methods in the U.S.
International law roundup
- Pregaming U.S. v. Bond, case where SCOTUS could revisit Missouri v. Holland treaty-power doctrine [Duncan Hollis, OJ, earlier here, etc.]
- Military drones and international law: for professor-turned-State-official Koh, the dish is crow [Ku/OJ]
- “Another UN Push for Global Taxation” [Dan Mitchell, Cato at Liberty]
- “Free speech is a gift given to us in 1948 by U.N. officials? Who knew?” [Mark Steyn, NRO]
- Lago Agrio, Ecuador saga: “Chevron claims Patton Boggs tried to cover up a fraud” [Roger Parloff, Fortune]
- New Kenneth Anderson book, “Living with the U.N.” [Hoover Institute Press]
- FCPA: “Foreign Firms Most Affected by a U.S. Law Barring Bribes” [New York Times]
Ambassador’s murder fuels calls for hate-speech bans
Peter Spiro of Temple, one of the more prominent international-law specialists in the legal academy, claims that the killing of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya, following demonstrations over a video produced by private U.S. citizens denouncing Mohammed, “bolsters” the case for free-speech laws by adding a foreign-policy rationale, and warns that on matters of unfettered speech (“The First Amendment? Call me a relativist”) “international law is going … in a different direction than we are.” [Opinio Juris] (Later news reports suggest that the Benghazi attack, though taking advantage of a mob demonstration for cover, was in fact a well-planned paramilitary operation.) Meanwhile, a religious-studies professor has proposed arrest of the offending filmmaker, even though “If there is anyone who values free speech, it is a tenured professor!” [Anthea Butler (U. Penn.), USA Today] And here’s the background climate of opinion at the United Nations. More: Ken White/Salon, and Alana Goodman/Commentary on the elusive “Sam Bacile.”
More: Eugene Volokh traces how Prof. Spiro and Prof. Harold Koh — now top State Department legal adviser — propose to use international law to adjust First Amendment norms toward those prevailing elsewhere.
Further from Volokh (“I think such suppression would likely lead to more riots and more deaths, not less.”) and more (modernist views often vulnerable to being characterized as an “intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others”), and Ken at Popehat (“We can’t cave on this in the face of demands that we censor. We can’t. Today it’s bigoted videos. Tomorrow it’s any representation whatsoever of Mohammed.”)
International law roundup
- Human rights roulette: Senate could take up UN disabled-rights treaty in September [Stefano Gennarini, Turtle Bay and Beyond; earlier]
- Intense opposition from gun rights community slows drive for U.N. small arms treaty [David Kopel, Steve Hayward/PowerLine, Krayewski/Reason, Opinio Juris]
- SEC moves on complex, costly conflict minerals rule [Bainbridge, more, earlier]
- Series of Eugene Volokh posts takes up proposals to restrict reception of foreign law, including Islamic law, in American courts [Volokh Conspiracy]
- U.N. human rights establishment urges Iceland to crack down on gender-stereotypical speech [Volokh]
- Welfare rights, the U.N.-system way [International Labour Organization]
- When may American courts hear suits over international law violations on foreign soil? Cato files amicus brief in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch [Shapiro] SCOTUSBlog symposium on Kiobel and future of Alien Tort Statute;
- Damir Marusic reviews Aryeh Neier’s book on international human rights [American Interest]
“Why Does the U.N. Still Exist?”
Even as it performs badly at its original primary aim of providing for international peace and security, its system of sub-organizations branches out into an endlessly ambitious attempt to prescribe international regulations and codes on everything from commerce in firearms to disabled rights. [Kenneth Anderson, Hoover]
International law roundup
- Top Europe court: workers who happen to get sick on vacation legally entitled to another vacation [Tabarrok]
- U.N. rapporteur presses “right to food but not so much you grow obese” on Canada [UN, earlier]
- “The Federal Government Can’t Give Itself More Power Just By Signing a Treaty” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato on U.S. v. Bond]
- Andrew Spalding on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) as “unwitting sanctions” against poorer countries [Fla. L. Rev.] One big loss, one little win for DoJ prosecutors on FCPA [AmLaw, NLJ]
- Turkey of the sea? Opinio Juris debate and discussion on whether Law of the Sea Treaty is a good idea for U.S.; Doug Bandow, Cato; views of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Donald Rumsfeld, Heritage Foundation, Julian Ku; Jeremy Rabkin 2006 critique of the treaty; John Norton Moore defense.
- “Left Wing Sovereigntism! Public Citizen Assaults Investor-State Tribunals” [Julian Ku/OJ; my 1996 piece on the Loewen case, which led to an international tribunal complaint by the victimized defendant]
- “Taming International Law With Presidential Supremacy” [Ted Galen Carpenter, LLL, Yoo response, earlier, AEI event]
- Alien Tort Statute: “U.S. Government Stabs Kiobel ATS Plaintiffs in the Back” [Ku, FedSoc]
- More on the really amazingly bad idea of turning Internet governance over to the United Nations system [Gordon Crovitz,”The U.N.’s Internet Power Grab,” WSJ; C-SPAN video of May 30 Free State Foundation event; Reason; Daily Caller and more, Instapundit and more on House reaction; earlier]