This week, the Supreme Court issued a historic decision that will help prevent U.S. courts (and activist judges) from interfering in foreign policy issues that are—and should be—the constitutional prerogative of the executive and legislative branches. Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum involved the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which was passed …
Airstrikes carried out by U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly referred to as drones) have been criticized for several years by international human rights activists, including certain “special rapporteurs” operating out of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. One such special rapporteur, Ben Emmerson of the United Kingdom, has …
When a nation joins the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) it should be prepared to have its domestic court rulings overturned by an international tribunal. That hard lesson was recently learned by Ghana. Specifically, on December 15, an UNCLOS court—the International Tribunal for the Law …
Earlier today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) announced his intention to proceed to executive session tomorrow to consider the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), an international treaty purporting to protect the rights of the disabled that the Obama Administration signed in July 2009. However, U.S. …
On Tuesday, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson characterized free speech not as a fundamental right, but as a “privilege” given to us by the U.N. Specifically, he referred to “the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression” as a: gift given to us by the [Universal] Declaration of Human Rights, but …
The attacks on United States embassies in the Middle East raise questions about President Obama’s policy in the region. But the administration’s reaction to these events is troubling as well. Its strong condemnation of a video it claims incited the violence, its attempt to censor the video, and its weak …
In the current economic environment, one would think that Congress could identify nonessential international programs to defund. That’s what Representatives Jeff Duncan (R–SC) and Jim Jordan (R–OH) are attempting to do in Amendment No. 200 to the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. Amendment No. 200 is pretty straightforward: None …
One would think that Harvard Law School-educated Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a South African jurist and current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights would have better things to do than get involved in the affairs of a democracy like the United States. Yet Pillay, who has served as a judge …
