International Human Rights Litigation: A Guide for Judges.

The U.S. Federal Judicial Center recently published a free, online guide called International Human Rights Litigation: A Guide for Judges. This Guide was written to assist federal judges in resolving federal cases involving international human rights claims, and it provides a comprehensive analysis of substantive and procedural issues involved in such cases.  The Guide includes a detailed analysis  on the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), and other federal statutes that we know and love.  It also includes a model scheduling order for human rights cases, case summaries, tables, and research references (current as of December 31, 2016).

The Guide was drafted to be neutral as between human rights plaintiffs and defendants, and thus should provide useful information for all. Because it was commissioned by a federal government agency (the Federal Judicial Center) for the benefit of federal judges, lawyers, and agencies, the Guide has been placed in the public domain and is available as a free resource.  And we like that. Readers can freely distribute, print, and otherwise use and transmit the Guide in its present form, provided that no changes are made to the manuscript itself.  You can find and download the Guide by searching on the FJC website or nu this link to the author’s SSRN site (Abstract ID # 2978170).

• Recommended citation: David Nersessian, International Human Rights Litigation: A Guide for Judges 1-178 (Federal Judicial Center 2016).

Congratulations to the Federal Judicial Center and to Dr. David L. Nersessian, an Assistant Professor  at Babson College in Massachusetts.

(mew)