“The Supreme Court: Guarding the Constitution at Guantanamo”

One of the most important lessons of centuries of Anglo-American legal history is that the power of the Executive to arrest and imprison people must be subject to the check of review by an independent and impartial court. In the quaint Latin phrase used by lawyers, that judicial check is called habeas corpus. Under this time-honored procedure, courts review whether a detention is lawful and, if it is not, order the prisoner’s release. Read More

“Bill Ford and the Struggle for Justice in El Salvador”

Individuals can make a difference – especially talented and determined individuals. That is the lesson taught by the lives of Bill and Ita Ford. Read More

“Human Rights: What the Next President Can Do”

What can the next President do to restore American credibility on human rights? Following the lapses of this Administration, there is nowhere to go but up. But if we are to recover our good name, dramatic words must be accompanied by persuasive actions. Read More

“Iran: War Drums in Washington”

Are the people who brought us a calamitous war in Iraq about to drag us into another one in Iran?

A war in Iran would be different, of course. It could not be another massive land invasion: the Pentagon has no troops to spare, and the American people have no patience for another such debacle. Read More

“The Texas Death Penalty: Rights of Mexicans Here and Americans Abroad”

The Texas death sentence imposed on José Medellín – whose execution is now set for August 5 – is a classic case of what’s wrong with the death penalty. Putting to death this Mexican citizen, with no hearing on whether he was prejudiced by the denial of his consular rights, would also violate a legally binding order of the International Court of Justice. Executing him would place Americans overseas at risk. Congress needs to step in to defend our national honor. Read More

The Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR) of Notre Dame Law School has received a grant to study Latin American jurisprudence on international crimes. The study will compile and analyze the various ways in which domestic legal systems in Latin America have incorporated, developed and modified international criminal law concepts Read More

Sean O’Brien, assistant director of the Notre Dame Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights and concurrent assistant law professor, will speak at John Marshall Law School in Chicago as part of a panel discussion titled “The International and The United States Response to the Crisis in Darfur.” Read More

“Iraq: Does International Law Matter After All?”

Five years after we toppled Saddam Hussein, our invasion of Iraq stands out as one of the worst foreign policy blunders in American history.

The Administration’s war plan was delusional. We would find weapons of mass destruction. We would be welcomed as liberators by Iraqis bearing bouquets. We would need few troops, who need not stay long, to manage the hand-over to grateful Iraqis. We would plant a democratic flower in the Middle East, the first seedling in a garden of freedom that would spread throughout the region. We would flex our superpower muscle to the world and to the terrorists. We would prove once and for all that no one should dare offend the mightiest nation in history. Read More

When General Pervez Musharraf suspended the Pakistani Constitution and imposed martial law last November, Ali Qazilbash ’97LL.M., ’05J.S.D. knew that he was facing a crisis for which he had prepared all of his life. Read More

Article by Doug Cassel
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3536/jose_padilla_brings_torture_to_trial/ Read More

Ambassador, Richard S. Williamson, appointed in January 2008 as special envoy to Sudan by President George W. Bush., will deliver remarks related to his present work as well as his career in both private practice and public service. Read More

“Global Capitalism and Poverty”

Wall Street may be down, but not the subscribers to Trader Monthly. On average, claims the magazine’s publisher, they make $653,000. No wonder, reports the New York Times, they are “prime targets for advertisers like Hermes, Cessna and Johnnie Walker.” Read More

Survivors from the war-torn nations of Rwanda and Darfur, a Holocaust survivor, journalists, and others will converge at Notre Dame on Sunday and Monday, April 6-7 for the conference “Witnessing Genocide: Truth, Reconciliation, and the Media.” The event is co-sponsored by Notre Dame Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights, and will be held in McKenna Hall on campus. Read More

“Sri Lanka: US Must Do More to Curb Forced Disappearances”

Global economic power brings responsibility.

That’s the message we send to China, by pressing Beijing to use its leverage as Sudan’s best oil customer to curb the slaughter in Darfur. China does not commit human rights violations in Darfur, but it can and should use its influence to save lives. Read More

“The US: Blowing it in Pakistan, Again”

Once again, the United States has blown it in Pakistan.

Consider the message reportedly conveyed last week by the former president of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association, Tariq Mahmood, to US Ambassador Anne Patterson: Read More

The Center for Civil and Human Rights at Notre Dame Law School will screen the Oscar Award-winning documentary “Taxi to the Dark Side” on Thursday, March 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the Annenberg Auditorium of the Snite Museum of Art. A panel discussion follows the screening. Beginning with the case Read More

“Iran: Women Struggling for Rights”

Today, in Stockholm, Sweden, the Olof Palme Prize will be awarded to Iranian women’s rights activist Parvin Ardalan. Granted annually to outstanding defenders of justice and equality, the Palme Prize for 2007 goes to Ms. Ardalan because she has “succeeded in making the demand for equal rights for men and women a central part of the struggle for democracy in Iran.” Read More

“The International Criminal Court in Africa: Bad News and Good”

At this stage of its development, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, known as the ICC, could for all practical purposes be called the ICC Read More

Dr. George Mugwanya (J.S.D. ’00), Senior Appeals Counsel for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Addresses NDLS Students and Faculty Read More

“Kosovo: About to Blow?”

Remember Kosovo? We went to war there a decade ago. Since then the place has mostly been off our front pages. But tensions are mounting ominously, and could soon come to a head.

Now, as then, Kosovo is a short fuse, at risk if being lit by ethnic conflict between Serbs and Albanians, overlaid by geo-power rivalry between the United States and Russia. Read More

“Padilla v. Yoo: “Lawfare” or Rule of Law?”

After enduring nearly two years of incommunicado isolation in a tiny cell, during which he was
allegedly subjected to severe sensory deprivation and mental disorientation techniques, utilizing
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“Padilla v. Yoo: The Alleged Torture”

Alleging that he was tortured during three and a half years behind bars at a Navy brig in
South Carolina, Jose Padilla, a United States citizen, has now sued John Yoo, the former
Read More

“Kenya: Why The Election Was Worth Stealing”

Let us not mince words: President Mwai Kibaki and his ruling party stole Kenya’s presidential
election. But that’s not all they stole: Kibaki’s clique is steeped in high-level corruption. If they
Read More

“CIA Torture: Destroying the Evidence”

What next? Not only did the CIA torture at least two Al Qaeda prisoners, but the agency
apparently violated federal court orders by destroying the videotapes of its torture sessions. How
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“Guantanamo: Round Three Before the Supreme Court”

Lawyers around the world are puzzled. How can the United States of America, self-proclaimed
champion of human rights and inheritor from Britain of the Great Writ of habeas corpus — by
Read More

“Pakistan: Listen to the Lawyers, Not to the Dictator”

Few stranger sights are recorded in the annals of street protests: Front page photos in newspapers
last week showed middle-aged lawyers, suited up, ties flapping in the wind, heaving back tear gas
Read More

“Chavez Charms Now, But How Will Venezuela Feel in the Morning?”

Should the American Left embrace Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez?

Admirers of anti-imperialism and Bush-bashers find Chavez hard to resist. His populist rhetoric
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“CIA Kidnapping: No Remedy?”

New Year’s Eve, 2004, was not a good night for Khaled El-Masri. A German citizen of Lebanese
descent, he was grabbed by local cops while traveling in Macedonia. They held him for three
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“CIA Torture: At it Again”

It’s the torture, stupid.

President Bush just doesn’t get it. Last week brought new revelations of secret memos
authorizing torture. Our Torturer in Chief, given a legal green light by former Attorney General
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“Opening the Debate on Israel”

The United States gives far more aid to Israel than to any other country. The US is also known
around the world as Israel’s ultimate diplomatic shield. When most or all other countries in the
Read More