Chapter 1 Introduction What are the issues of the day?

Nuremberg

Jus Cogens

What is jus cogens?

How is it established?

What does this mean:

‘‘A treaty is void if, at the time of its conclusion, it conflicts with a peremptory norm of general international law . . . [which] is a norm accepted by the international community of States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted. . . .’’

How does jus cogens transcend the consent of states?

ICJ Judgments and Customary International Law

‘‘Customary international law results from a general and consistent practice of states followed by them from a sense of legal obligation.’’ Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law §102(2) (1987)

Finally, in order for such a customary norm of international law to become a peremptory norm, there must be a further recognition by ‘‘the international community . . . as a whole [that this is] a norm from which no derogation is permitted.’’

Why do ICJ Judgments fail this test?

Do all nations accept them?

What are Universal Norms?

The recently revised Restatement acknowledges two categories of such norms:

‘‘the principles of the United Nations Charter prohibiting the use of force,’’ and

fundamental human rights law that prohibits genocide, slavery, murder, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, and racial discrimination.

Possible Effect of Jus Cogens

Such basic norms of international law as the proscription against murder and slavery may well have the domestic legal effect that appellants suggest. That is, they may well restrain our government in the same way that the Constitution restrains it.

Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876 (2d Cir. 1980)

One citizen of Paraguay sued another for torture done while he was a police chief.

Both were in the US, and jurisdiction was through the Alien Tort Claims Act, which we will study later.

The court found that official torture violated jus cogens and was a valid claim under the ATCA

See why the Republicans were so nervous about Holder saying water boarding is torture?

Fifth Amendment Claims

What is the basis for the 5th amendment claim?

Why does the court say that the key is that they must prove that the actions of the US were arbitrary?

Is Rejecting the ICJ Arbitrary?

(1) Nicaragua had not itself consented to, and therefore could not invoke, ICJ jurisdiction;

(2) the dispute with Nicaragua was one involving ‘‘armed conflict,’’ collective self-defense and preservation of regional stability, and thus fell outside the ICJ’s jurisdiction as set forth in the U.N. Charter and in the ICJ’s own precedents; and

(3) the United States itself had never consented to jurisdiction over this type of conflict since, by reservation, it had expressly excluded ‘‘disputes arising under multilateral treaty’’ from the scope of its consent.

Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004)

What are the facts?

What is the Federal Tort Claims Act and what does it provide?

Why does his claim fail under the FTCA?

Would it still fail under the FTCA if he was in the US?

What claim would you use in the US?

History of the Alien Tort Statute

What claims were the Framers familiar with?

Blackstone’s three primary offenses:

violation of safe conducts,

infringement of the rights of ambassadors, and

piracy.

When the original Alien Tort Statute (ATS) was passed, who did congress envision using it?

Were there many cases before Filartiga?

§ 1350. Alien's action for tort

"The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." [this is the whole law]

Does this spell out what a violation is?

Justice Souter and Federal Common Law

Does Souter think common law is found or made by judges?

How does Eire limit the role of the federal courts in developing common law?

Has Congress passed any laws that would provide a basis to assume that it wants the courts to create law expanding foreign rights under the ATS?

Does he close the door, as Scalia does?

It would take some explaining to say now that federal courts must avert their gaze entirely from any international norm intended to protect individuals.

Texas Industries, Inc. v. Radcliff Materials, Inc., 451 U.S. 630, 641 (1981)

...recognizing that ‘‘international disputes implicating . . . our relations with foreign nations’’ are one of the ‘‘narrow areas’’ in which ‘‘federal common law’’ continues to exist.

Why is international law a more appropriate area for federal common law than domestic cases?

What did Congress do after the courts found jurisdiction in Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876 (C.A.2 1980)?

Why does Souter say this is important?

Does Snatching Alvarez Violate Long Accepted Norms?

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Declaration), G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948).

Does this declaration create any domestic legal rights?

What was the US reservation when ratifying the treaty?

Has Congress executed the treaty with legislation?

Implications of Arbitrary Arrest as a Violation of International Norms

His rule would support a cause of action in federal court for any arrest, anywhere in the world, unauthorized by the law of the jurisdiction in which it took place, and would create a cause of action for any seizure of an alien in violation of the Fourth Amendment, supplanting the actions under Rev. Stat. §1979, 42 U.S.C. §1983 and Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), that now provide damages remedies for such violations. . . .