Democracies vs. Autocracies: The Risk of Framing Geopolitics as Us vs. Them
President Joe Biden has repeatedly characterized the state of world affairs as a battle between democracies and autocracies, with America leading the coalition championing the democratic cause. According to the United States, this coalition aims to show the world that government of the people, by the people and for the people is the best model, [...]
Israel, Counter-Terrorism, and International Law: The Analytic Challenges of 'System'
“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959) Whether conspicuous or obscure, terrorism generally presents itself as a systemic challenge. This means, inter alia, that seemingly singular strategic and legal matters may actually be many-sided and interrelated. Regarding legal issues, though [...]
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Monday for aiding and abetting manslaughter in the death of George Floyd during an attempted detainment of Floyd by Minneapolis Police in 2020. Thao was given time to speak during a portion of the hearing that was not recorded, with CNN [...]
Foundations of Nuclear War Avoidance: An Intellectual and Legal Challenge
“It must not be forgotten that it is perhaps more dangerous for a nation to allow itself to be conquered intellectually than by arms.” —Guillaume Apollinaire, “The New Spirit and the Poets” (1917) Nuclear weapons remain unique in the history of warfare and corresponding international law. Even a single instance of nuclear war-fighting could signify [...]
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a section of the newly enacted SAFE-T Act that eliminated cash bail in the state was legal under the state’s constitution. Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, writing for the majority, stated: The Illinois Constitution of 1970 does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure [...]
Beyond the Declaration of Independence: Of Wisdom, Virtue, and Principles of Government
The great end of government and laws is human happiness; the rulers ought, therefore, to understand and know on what it consists; and the means of producing it. — Hon. Jesse Root, “On the Principles and End of Government” The summer of 1776 was quite productive in the annals of American intellectual and legal thought. [...]
JURIST Deputy Features Editor Jaimee Francis talked with Kelly Olivier and Allyson West, the co-founders of Themis: Trial by Women, the first women-founded, women-run trial attorney group in the United States that will exclusively take on cases from women from all communities, including BIPOC, trans, and gender non-conforming individuals, as well as from allies who [...]
How Putin Uses Hanoi’s 1960s Playbook to Divide the American Public on Foreign Policy
As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his new Republican House majority threaten the pipeline of U.S. aid to Ukraine, more than one observer has noted the irony in the fact that the mantle of the antiwar cause has now been assumed by the right. The images of protestors being beaten outside the Democratic National Convention in [...]
The White House announced Monday that a “small number” of classified documents were found in early November 2022 in an office formerly used by President Joe Biden during his vice presidency. Biden’s personal attorneys notified the US Department of Justice (DOJ) of the discovery after finding them in a locked closet at the Penn Biden [...]
The Supreme Court of Illinois Saturday put a hold on the controversial Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act, finding that the pretrial release provisions under the act violated the Illinois Constitution. The SAFE-T Act is a criminal justice reform law impacting many aspects of the criminal justice system such as policing, pretrial, sentencing and [...]
