International Law Prof Blog

AALS Section of International Law Programs

The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) holds its annual meeting next week online. We'll have a full "dance card" of the programs for international and comparative law, but we want to be sure that you save these dates and (Eastern) times for the formal programs sponsored by the AALS International Law Section.

Section on International Law - Networking Session
Wednesday, January 6, 2021 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. (Eastern Time Zone)

Section on International Law: Pedagogy Session: How to Pick an International Law Casebook
Thursday, January 7, 2021 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Eastern)

Section on International Law: The United Nations at 75 and the Challenges Facing International Law
Friday, January 8, 2021 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (Eastern)

Section on International Law: New Voices in International Law and International Legal Research Update
Saturday, January 9, 2021 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ (Eastern)

(mew)

Human Rights Day 2020

December 10 marks the 72nd anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

The theme of this year's Human Rights Day is “Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights.”  This theme relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the need to build back better by ensuring human rights are central to recovery efforts.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said,

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. [...] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

This year, we all need to work together in our local communities all over the world to fight COVID-19 in a way that ends discrimination and eliminates inequalities and promotes a more sustainable world.

 

(cgb)

Kudos to Int'l Law Prof Blog Founder Professor Mark Wojcik

The Officers and Trustees of the Pound Civil Justice Institute have bestowed the Institute’s 2021 Civil Justice Scholarship Award to International Law Prof Blog founder and editor Prof. Mark Wojcik (UIC-John Marshall), as well as to Prof. Sandra Sperino (Cincinnati) and Prof. Suja Thomas (Illinois).

Professor Wojcik, of UIC John Marshall Law School, is honored for his article, Extending Batson to Peremptory Challenges of Jurors Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 40 No. Ill. U. L. Rev. 1 (2019), in which he argues that it is time to extend the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Batson v. Kentucky to all federal and state trial courts, and to prohibit expressly the exclusion of jurors based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Professor Sperino, of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and Professor Thomas, of the University of Illinois College of Law, are honored for their book, Unequal: How America’s Courts Undermine Discrimination Law (Oxford University Press 2017), in which they examine the ways in which courts have impeded private enforcement of anti-discrimination laws through civil litigation.

Congratulations to all the 2021 Awardees!

(cgb)

 

Scribes Law-Review Award

Each year, Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers—sponsors a competition to recognize an outstanding note or comment written by a law student who is associated with a student-edited law review or journal. This award has the distinction of being the only national award in the United States for student authors that places no limitation on subject matter.

Journals may enter year’s competition by submitting an outstanding student note or comment that has been, or will be, published between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021. The competition will be judged by the Scribes Law Review Committee. The winning journal and the author of the winning note or comment will each receive a plaque.

Nominations are due by January 15, 2021. To receive a form or for any questions, contact Philip Johnson, the Executive Director of Scribes, at [email protected].

(mew)

International Law Association Conference

The 79th Biennial Conference of the International Law Association (ILA) is now underway. Registration is available at http://www.ila2020kyoto.org/registration.html 

The conference is online (making it easier to attend than traveling to Kyoto). The conference will be held from now until December 13. Information about the conference is available at http://www.ila2020kyoto.org/

Hat tip to Houston Putnam Lowry.

(mew)

Can U.S. Corporations Be Held Liable Under the Alien Tort Statute?

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in a case that may determine whether U.S. corporate entities, in this case Cargill, Inc. and Nestle (a U.S. subsidiary of the Swiss-based company), may be held liable under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). The plaintiffs are former child laborers who were trafficked from Mali to the Ivory Coast where they were forced to work on cocoa bean farms. The lawsuit alleges that Cargill and Nestle continued to do business with these farmers knowing they used child labor. Cargill and Nestle respond that they have policies in place that forbid the use of child slave labor and have taken steps to prevent it in the supply chain.

In Kiobel, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a lawsuit under the ATS must sufficiently "touch and concern" the United States to survive. One question is whether these facts meet that standard. A second question is whether the U.S. Supreme Court will extend its holding in Jesner shielding foreign corporations from liability under the ATS to also exempt U.S. corporations from ATS suits.  Stay tuned for developments.

(cgb)