Anthony Clark Arend

The Los Angeles Times reports:
A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that blocked the implementation of an Oklahoma law barring judges from considering international or Islamic law in their decisions.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling released Tuesday, affirmed an order by a district court judge in 2010 that halted the law from …

Several previous posts have discussed the use of signing statements by American Presidents. Most recently, President Obama issued signing statements for both the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (H.R. 2055) and the Defense Authorization Act, 2012 (H.R. 1540). As previous posts have noted, I have significant reservations about the use of these statements. In a recent Reuters article, I provided several …

Earlier today, President Obama signed H.R. 1540, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012,” and issued the following signing statement:

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
December 31, 2011

Statement by the President on H.R. 1540
Today I have signed into law H.R. 1540, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.” I have signed the Act …

From the White House website:

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
December 23, 2011

Statement by the President on H.R. 2055
Today I have signed into law H.R. 2055, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012.” This bill provides the funding necessary for the smooth operation of our Nation’s Government.
I have previously announced that it is the policy of my Administration, …

Several previous posts ( for example, here, here, and here) have noted recent developments on the question of corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute. With an HT to Daniel Buk, I am happy to report that the Obama Administration recently filed an amicus brief supporting corporate liability under the ATS. Over at Lawfare, former State Department Legal Adviser John …

I just learned today that my old friend, Professor David J. Bederman, died on December 4. David was a brilliant and prolific scholar of international law at Emory University Law School. We first met over a quarter of a Century ago, when we were both students at the University of Virginia. David was a great person– a world-renowned scholar, a …

TBD reports:
Holocaust survivors will urge a House committee to pass a bill that would allow survivors to pursue legal action against the French rail company responsible for transporting tens of thousands of Jews and other prisoners to Nazi death camps.
“What the French did during the war was excessively criminal,” said Holocaust survivor Leo Bretholz.
In 1942, Bretholz was …

From the Blog of LegalTimes:
A federal judge in Washington has dismissed a suit challenging the Obama administration’s legal justification for military action against targets in Libya.
The suit, filed by a bipartisan group of congressmen in June in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, sought a ruling that the U.S. military strikes are unconstitutional without …