Category Archives: Uncategorized

Trade Negotiations & the Appointments Clause

Posted on May 11, 2017 by

Below is a short series of posts on the issue of whether it’s consistent with the Appointments Clause for the President to appoint treaty negotiators, such as those who would renegotiate NAFTA, without first obtaining case-specific advice and consent from the … Continue reading →

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A Closer Look at Congressional Foreign Travel

Posted on March 2, 2017 by

On Monday, Paul Singer at USA Today reported new data on the burgeoning practice of congressional foreign travel. According to Singer, federal legislators spent more government funds venturing abroad in 2016 than any other year in the past decade. Roughly … Continue reading →

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

Posted on February 13, 2017 by

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 →

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Finding Customary International Law

Posted on August 8, 2016 by

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.

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The Study of International Law in American Law Schools: A Brief History

Posted on March 28, 2015 by

As I’ve discussed in other posts, international law has a fairly peripheral role in American legal education. Only eight schools require their students to complete a course on the subject, and the range of international electives tends to be quite limited. … Continue reading →

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The Senkaku Islands and the Problem of Intertemporality

Posted on March 3, 2015 by

An underappreciated complexity in the dispute over the Senkaku Islands is that the merits of the competing claims don’t hinge exclusively on contemporary international law. One of the most central issues is whether the Senkakus were terra nullius when Japan … Continue reading →

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

Some Historical Perspective on Netanyahu’s Address to Congress

Posted on January 21, 2015 by

Today there’s some interesting news from the realm of foreign relations law: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will give an address to Congress next month on the topic of Iran’s nuclear program, presumably to encourage legislators to support a hardline … Continue reading →

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