Author Archives: Ryan Scoville

A Legal Analysis of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s Trip to Syria

Posted on February 13, 2017

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has drawn attention in recent weeks for leading a delegation to Syria and Lebanon, where she reportedly met with government leaders, refugees, and members of civil society. The stated purposes were to engage in fact-finding and … Continue reading →

Posted in Congressional Foreign Travel, Foreign Affairs Constitution, U.S. Foreign Relations Law, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Finding Customary International Law

Posted on August 8, 2016

I just posted the final, published version of my paper Finding Customary International Law, which came out in the Iowa Law Review last month. It’s available here.

Posted in Alien Tort Statute, U.S. Foreign Relations Law, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The South China Sea Arbitration: Implications for the Senkaku Islands

Posted on July 18, 2016

One of the big takeaways from the South China Sea arbitration is that the high-tide features in the Spratly Islands are mere “rocks” under Article 121(3) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea because they “cannot sustain … Continue reading →

Posted in International Law, Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands, 尖閣諸島 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How Cosmopolitan Are International Law Professors?

Posted on April 22, 2016

Milan Markovic (Texas A&M) and I just posted a new piece about U.S. professors of international law. Here’s the abstract: This Article offers an empirical answer to a question of interest among scholars of comparative international law: why do American views … Continue reading →

Posted in International Law, U.S. Foreign Relations Law | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New Article on International Legal Education

Posted on March 8, 2016

I recently posted a draft of a new article on international legal education. The article examines the curriculum of virtually every law school in the world in order to identify global trends in the teaching of international law, and then theorizes … Continue reading →

Posted in International Law, International Legal Education | Tagged , | Leave a comment

International Law from a Cuban Perspective

Posted on February 7, 2016

Recently I returned from a trip to Cuba, where I had the opportunity to interview Celeste Pino Canales, a highly regarded professor of public international law at the University of Havana. I pursued the interview for a couple of reasons. … Continue reading →

Posted in International Law | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

New Data on Incursions into Waters Surrounding the Senkaku Islands

Posted on November 5, 2015

The Japanese Coast Guard just released some new data on the “numbers of Chinese government and other vessels that entered Japan’s contiguous zone or intruded into [the] territorial sea surrounding the Senkaku Islands.” Here they are: I see two noteworthy trends: … Continue reading →

Posted in Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands, 尖閣諸島 | Tagged , | Leave a comment