Guyana, a developing country in South America with a population of only 800,000, has stimulated its economy through a massive fossil fuel discovery over the past five years. Through its vast forestation, Guyana also generates revenue by selling carbon credits. This unique interplay between forest preservation and fossil fuel extraction raises concerns over the current international framework surrounding carbon emissions. Volume XLVII staff editor Matthew Haag argues that the International Panel on Climate Change should update their methodology and explores the implications of these changes.
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With global food insecurity rising in a post-pandemic world, staff editor Sarah Fellenbaum compares Swiss and American law to argue that a human rights law approach is crucial in combatting hunger.
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While an individual nuclear weapon may be controllable in isolation, even a relatively controlled nuclear strike may prompt other countries to respond with counter-strikes that themselves violate international law. Many countries, including the United States, take the position that under the doctrine of causation, the decisions of the other country to counter-strike constitute an intervening cause that breaks the chain of causation, absolving them of responsibility for the effects of the subsequent strikes. This blog post examines exceptions to the doctrine of intervening cause that would potentially hold the country behind the initial strike responsible for the effects of the subsequent counter-strikes. Given the risk of escalatory counter-strikes in the context of nuclear weapons, these exceptions raise questions about the durability of the legality of nuclear weapons.
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As multinational corporations (MNCs) at the helm of global supply chains profit extraordinarily, workers further down the chain are exploited and abused. The price of MNCs’ gargantuan market power should be strict liability for workers’ rights abuses along supply chains. This post explores strict liability as a regulatory framework for MNCs engaged in labor rights abuses along global supply chains.
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Like many other countries around the world, Kenya is currently facing a femicide and gender-based violence (GBV) crisis. This crisis is only worsened by a legal system that is slow to act. Though activists and grassroots organizations have called for legislative reform, Volume XLVII staff editor Joy Kemunto argues that legislative reform is not enough. This post explores the laws Kenya currently has in place and the alternative suggestion that the international community play a more involved role in tackling femicide.
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The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive and far-reaching data privacy statute that covers all entities collecting and processing data in Europe. The GDPR prohibits those entities from unlawfully transferring that data to third parties, even in connection with a litigation in a United States court. Volume XLVII staff member Matthew Classi characterizes the dilemma US federal courts face in compelling litigants to produce European-sourced data in pretrial discovery, potentially exposing them to significant liability.
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In December, 2023, the United States announced the boundaries of its extended continental shelf (ECS), which represents the outermost maritime zone over which it exercises sovereignty. The United States, however, is not a party to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the major treaty regime governing the law of state territorial waters. As a result, it's unilateral declaration raises a number of questions including the status of its extended continental shelf boundaries under customary international law and treaty law and whether as a non-signatory party, the United States's ECS boundaries can receive binding finality under UNCLOS. This post explores theses outstanding questions following the United State's announcement.
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The United States faces a significant challenge with the increasing complexity of migratory pressures at its borders. Volume XLVII staff editor Avery Bell discusses how the United States might improve its immigration policies by learning from the European Union's approach. The post explores how a "mandatory yet flexible" system could relieve pressure on border states and enhance overall immigration management.
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Given the First Amendment's unequivocal free speech clause, how far states and public entities must go to protect speakers' rights is more unclear than one would think. Here, Volume XLVII staff editor M. Mendel Pinson compares the law in the United States to a similar framework in the United Kingdom, which provides the state far more leeway to abridge the expression of all speakers in another hostile audience context.
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The Jones Act is perhaps the most restrictive cabotage laws in the world. Scholars have long questioned its efficacy and maligned it for being an unnecessary drag on the economy. Volume XLVII staff member Jonathan Friedman argues that America should follow Europe's lead in liberalizing its cabotage laws to realize the benefits of healthy competition.
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The extradition of Julian Assange from the U.K. to the U.S. for espionage charges has sparked worldwide debate on the implications such an extradition will have on free speech and treaty interpretation. Volume XLVII staff editor Olivia Miles argues that a refusal to apply the political offense exception enumerated in art. 4 of the 2003 U.S.-U.K. Extradition Treaty to the Assange case would be a drastic departure from Anglo-American Common Law interpretations of the political offense exception clause that is customarily incorporated in extradition treaties, having a devastating impact on both journalistic inquiry into government affairs and the U.S.'s capacity to enter into stable, foreign relations.
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