American Nuclear Strategy: A Complex Problem of Law and Intellect
“In the end, we still depend upon creatures of our own making.” -Goethe, Faust On core matters of national security, American analysts should think in terms of intellectual and legal criteria. Ignoring the day-to-day banalities of national and international politics, these strategists and policy-makers ought continuously to bear in mind that such primary standards may [...]
Will Guantanamo Continue As An Unnecessary Presidential Legacy?
Almost five years ago I contributed to a Commentary to JURIST entitled, “Guantanamo: An Unnecessary Presidential Legacy,” which focused on former President Barack Obama’s unsuccessful attempt to shut down the Guantanamo prison facility because of missed opportunities, faulty decision making, internal administration opposition and ultimately partisan political division that resulted in an unnecessary presidential legacy. [...]
The filibuster debate has focused on whether the rule facilitates or stifles negotiation and compromise. Of course, the rule – that 60 votes are required to end debate – doesn’t do either. It’s the norms that those subject to the rule adopt that matter. When I was younger, it seemed, Congress adhered to a norm [...]
On Friday the United States and people who respect justice around the world lost a very special jurist, William Ramsey Clark (December 18, 1927 – April 9, 2021), a man unique among lawyers for his steadfast commitment to justice for all. He served his country as the 66th Attorney General of the United States from [...]
Fish and Wildlife Service sued for failing to act on endangered species proposals
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Thursday for failing to classify certain species as endangered within a reasonable time frame. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) created a system for processing requests to list species as threatened or endangered. Interested parties can submit a petition [...]
The Gold Code Standard Revisited: The Danger Of Sole Presidential Authority Over Nuclear Weapons
On January 8, 2021, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took the extraordinary step of publicly revealing she had talked with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, about “available precautions for preventing an unstable President from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” [...]
US President Donald Trump granted Tuesday full pardons to 15 individuals and commuted part or entire sentences of another five individuals. Among those pardoned are George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan, both convicted of making false statements to the FBI as part of the Mueller investigation. The White House emphasized that these were “process-related crimes” and [...]
Examining Airline Market Power in Light of COVID-19 Bailouts
Giants run the airline industry. Today, four airlines, American, United, Delta, and Southwest, control over 65 percent of the market. They achieved this level of dominance in just the past twenty years, with merger after merger cutting the number of major airlines left today into less than half the number that existed in 2000. The [...]
Yesterday, the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple testified before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee in a hearing on “Online Platforms and Market Power.” As Congress takes up the question of market power in the tech sector, the time is ripe to consider the issue in our broader economy. For decades, corporations in a [...]
Deprived of Voice or Home: Disability Rights Under National and International Law in Hungary
In 2007, Hungary ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a wide-ranging and forward-thinking treaty designed to advance the human rights of those with disabilities. This reflected on the international level what Hungary seemed to be doing on the national level. The year before, Hungary adopted a new National Disability Programme [...]
