ILSP Program News
The Washington Times: For mass killers, time in court offers stage for their warped agenda - May 6, 2012 - As Anders Behring Breivik has given shocking and remorseless accounts to a Norwegian court of how he massacred 77 people, his testimony has revived a debate about how much of a public platform mass murderers should be given in trials. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and expert in international criminal law, is quoted.
Associated Press: Breivik’s publicity at trial just what he wanted - April 25, 2012 - The testimony of Anders Behring Breivik, accused of massacring 77 people in Norway, has revived a debate about how much of a public platform mass-murderers should be given in trials. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and expert in international criminal law, is quoted.
Law360: Copyright Enforcement Push May Have Backfired, Expert Says - March 29, 2012 - The aggressive push by the entertainment industry for copyright enforcement legislation and treaties around the world may have backfired by turning the public against the idea of copyright protection, according to Daniel Gervais, FedEx Research Professor of Law and Co-Director, Vanderbilt Intellectual Property Program. (subscription required)
Thomson Reuters News & Insight: Analysis: Legal manuevering around Saudis in 9/11 case - March 8, 2012 - Fresh questions about the possible involvement of the Saudi government in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks might make waves in Washington, but it's unlikely they will be considered by a judge on the case for years -- if they are heard at all. Ingrid Wuerth, professor of law and Director, International Legal Studies Program, is quoted.
Vanderbilt expert Vijay Padmanabhan talks about Guantanamo Bay - February 28, 2012 - Vanderbilt law professor Vijay Padmanabhan talks about Guantanamo Bay, interrogation issues, and why it's been difficult for the Obama administration to shut the detainee camp down. (VIDEO)
“ICJ Issues Jurisdictional Immunities Judgment” by Ingrid Wuerth, Professor of Law and Director, International Legal Studies Program, was posted on the Opinio Juris blog on February 7, 2012. Professor Wuerth discusses the implications of the judgment in favor of Germany in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece Intervening).
Release Date: Feb 13, 2012
The team will compete in the international competition in March in Washington, D.C.
Reuters: Analysis: U.S. sanctions hamper Iran bid to recover $1.75 billion - January 15, 2012 - Iran’s effort to recover some $1.75 billion frozen in a U.S. bank faces a new obstacle due to a law President Barack Obama signed last month, potentially further squeezing Tehran’s economy and exacerbating tensions between the two countries. With such a large sum on the line and with Iran beset by economic sanctions from Western countries skeptical of its assertion that it does not seek to develop atomic bombs, Iran’s central bank plans to file a motion for the funds next month. Ingrid Wuerth, professor of law, is quoted.
USA Today: U.S. vows investigation of incident with corpses - January 13, 2012 - The Marines and the Obama administration promised a full investigation into a video that purports to depict four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, images that could be used as propaganda by America’s enemies, experts say. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and expert in international criminal law, is quoted. Professor Newton was also quoted in a similar story in the New York Times: Reprehensible behavior is a risk of combat, experts say.
ABCNews.com: The Note: Protests mark Guantanamo Bay detainee center’s 10th anniversary - January 12, 2012 - Opponents of the Guantanamo Bay detention center today marked its 10-year anniversary with protests from Belgium to Washington, D.C. Vijay Padmanabhan, assistant professor of law and former State Department chief counsel on Guantanamo, is quoted here and was interviewed for a related story on CNN International. The CNN interview was conducted at VUStar, Vanderbilt’s campus broadcast facility.
Public Radio International: The Takeaway: What’s the future of Guantanamo? - January 11, 2012 - Wednesday marks the tenth anniversary of the United States opening a detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The past decade has seen no shortage of controversy about the base, both on legal and moral terms. There are currently 171 prisoners being held there, and no signs of shutting the facility down in the near future. Vijay Padmanabhan, assistant professor of law at the Vanderbilt Law School, discusses the legal and political future of the base.
Ingrid Wuerth appointed to State Department Advisory Committee on International Law
Release Date: Nov 15, 2011
Wuerth directs Vanderbilt's International Legal Studies Program.
The Take Away: Building a Democratic Libya After Dictatorship - October 21, 2011 - The death of Moammar Gadhafi and the capture of Sirte brings to close a prolonged struggle between the Gadhafi regime and Libya's pro-democracy rebels, ending years of conflict and clearing the way for a new era of rebuilding, with challenges of its own. With the fall of a ruler who has been in power for more than four decades, Libya in many ways will be starting from scratch. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and legal adviser to the Libyan rebels, is interviewed along with former Assistant Secretary of Defense Larry Korb.
September 2011: Students in Professor Michael Newton’s International Law Practice Lab completed an analysis of issues surrounding the political/legal dynamic of the trials that are continuing in the Extraordinary Chambers in Cambodia, commonly known as the “Khmer Rouge Tribunal.” The tribunal is prosecuting senior Khmer Rouge leaders allegedly responsible for serious violations of Cambodian penal law, including the Killing Fields in Cambodia from 1975-79. The students’ analysis formed the basis for a report issued by the International Bar Association, which has been circulated worldwide. Practice Lab students who worked on the report during summer 2011 are A.J. Gochenaur ’11, Oluwafunmito Phillips Seton ’12 and Valerie Han Wang LL.M ’11.
Global Post: Irrefutable and nearly immediate proof of war crimes in Sudan - August 31, 2011 - The wall of impunity that has long protected war criminals is crumbling. And that process is now accelerating through the use of technology. Atrocities committed during military actions or in campaigns of ethnic cleansing used to be routinely denied, disputed, and covered up for years. Now, through innovative use of satellite imagery and analysis, these crimes are being exposed in near real time. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law, is quoted.
National Public Radio: Deaths could challenge Norway’s views on justice - July 25, 2011 - If the shooting and bombing rampage that killed dozens of people in Norway last week had happened in the United States, the man who confessed to the assault could be facing the death penalty. Instead, the maximum sentence Anders Behring Breivik faces — at least initially — is 21 years, although the court could theoretically extend his sentence in five-year increments if he is still deemed a threat to society. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and expert in international law, is quoted.
The Tennessean: For legal experts, insanity plea on trial in Little Rock - July 24, 2011 - Terrorism and legal experts are watching closely to see how an insanity defense plays with an Arkansas jury in the case of Abdulhakim Muhammad, who opened fire on a Little Rock Army recruiting station in 2009, killing one soldier and wounding another. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and expert in terrorism law, is quoted.
Yesha Yadav joins Vanderbilt’s law faculty as assistant professor of law
Release Date: Jun 24, 2011
Professor Yadav enters legal academy after serving in the Legal Vice-Presidency of the World Bank.
Vijay Padmanabhan joins Vanderbilt's law faculty as assistant professor
Release Date: Jun 16, 2011
Professor Padmanabhan will be affiliated with Vanderbilt’s International Legal Studies and Criminal Justice programs.
China Daily: Opinion: South Sudan’s gathering storm - June 9, 2011 - Coauthored by Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law - Sudan’s government, led by President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, has taken a page from its Darfur playbook by waging war once again on civilians and their property, this time attacking the disputed border region of Abyei on the eve of South Sudan’s legal secession next month, writes Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law, and John C. Bradshaw, executive director of the Enough Project. The commentary was also published in Nigeria’s Business Day, Egypt’s Daily News and other English-language news outlets around the world.
CBC Radio (Canada): The killing of Osama bin Laden - May 12, 2011 - Mike Newton, professor of the practice of law and international law adviser to the Iraqi High Tribunal, is interviewed about the legality of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) announces the convening of a high-level Piracy Working Group devoted to addressing the challenges posed by modern maritime piracy, comprised of 24 leading experts from academia, government and legal practice, including Michael A. Newton. Its mandate is to provide legal and policy advice to domestic, regional and international counter-piracy mechanisms. PILPG will be publishing the "Piracy News Update" biweekly electronic newsletter covering piracy-related developments around the world. The group convenes May 19, 2011, in Washington, D.C.
46 students to date accept international positions for summer or fall
Release Date: Apr 26, 2011
Students will work with 41 different organizations in 18 countries and the U.S.
WSMV Channel 4 interviewed John Owen Haley on March 15, 2011, about conditions in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami. Professor Haley was in Japan when the earthquake occurred. (Watch) (Read)
Tatiana Boza and Mark Hammervold win Top Oralist Awards at International Law Moot Court Competition
Release Date: Feb 18, 2011
Vanderbilt students competed in the 2011 Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, Midwest Super Region
Michael Newton, who specializes in accountability and conduct of hostilities issues, will deliver the keynote address, "Of Law and Legitimacy: Developing Dynamics of 21st Century Conflicts," at Loyola University Chicago School of Law's International Law Review Symposium 2011, "The Laws of War: International Conflict and the Global War on Terror," on February 25.
Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Advisor to the U.S. State Department, addresses limits to diplomatic immunity in 2011 Burch Lecture - February 4, 2011 - Koh's Burch lecture, entitled "Foreign Official Immunity after Samantar: A U.S. Government Perspective," was the keynote address for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law's symposium on "Foreign State Immunity at Home and Abroad." The lecture offered an illuminating policy perspective on the impact of an important 2010 Supreme Court decision, Samantar v. Yousuf, addressing the limits of diplomatic immunity.
2011 Charney Lecture explores impact of climate change in Arctic region - February 3, 2011 - With "Three Images of the Arctic and the Law and Politics They Suggest," Law of the Sea scholar Daniel Caron, addressed governance and other legal and political issues created by the Arctic's rapid transition from an area inhospitable to both travel and commercial development to an area where important natural resources are now accessible during at least part of the year. Caron is the C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where he co-directs the Law of the Sea Institute, an international consortium of scholars that has played a major part in studies of ocean law since the 1970s. He is also president of the American Society of International Law.
White paper by International Practice Lab students addresses genocide prevention - November 30, 2010 - When Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law at Vanderbilt, was asked to serve as a member of a working group on genocide prevention, several students in his International Law Practice Lab gained an opportunity to support his work with their own substantive research on what makes international networks work effectively. Read the full story.
What lies ahead for Omar Khadr? - October 14, 2010 - CBC.com (Canada) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under repeated attack for not intervening in the case of Omar Khadr, the only Canadian detained at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, especially in light of new evidence that he has been treated harshly. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and a former military prosecutor, is quoted.
Cardin calls for faster processing of special immigrant visas for Iraqi allies – July 22, 2010 – United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) - U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the (U.S. Helsinki Commission), and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-Florida) hosted a hearing to focus on the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who continue to languish in Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) partner State, Jordan, and in Syria and other countries in the region. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law, testified.
35 Vanderbilt law students to serve in international law externships and placements - May 04, 2010 - The International Legal Studies Program has announced student and graduate placements for summer 2010.
Updated edition of Terrorism: International Case Law Reporter, edited by Michael A. Newton, released in May 2010 by Oxford University Press. In addition to researching a 2010 edition, students in Vanderbilt's International Legal Studies Program have assisted with the Reporter since its initial 2007 edition, contributions include researching terrorism cases in nations worldwide and editing headnotes for these cases. "Students who work on assembling and commenting on these cases are at the vanguard of the cutting-edge research related to ongoing judicial and institutional counterterrorism efforts," Professor Newton says. "Vanderbilt students who work on this casebook gain an in-depth understanding of the interconnected nature of modern jurisprudence related to acts of terror around the world."
International court’s progress slow - May 14, 2010 - Washington Times - Since its founding in 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not issued any verdicts or completed a single trial. Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and expert in international law, is quoted.
Shannon Fyfe, Class of 2010, wins Helton Fellowship for work in Tanzania - Mar 23, 2010 - 2010 graduate Shannon Fyfe will work with the Public International Law and Policy Group to address treatment of albinos during summer and fall 2010.
Enemy of the State, a book coauthored by Michael A. Newton, named International Association of Penal Law's 2009 "Book of the Year." The book, coauthored with Michael Scharf, chronicles the capture, trial and execution of Saddam Hussein. Professors Newton and Scharf served as advisors to the Iraqi High Tribunal during the establishment of Iraq's High Criminal Court and throughout the trial of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
Send more troops or U.S. loses war - September 23, 2009 - The Tennessean - Michael Newton, professor of the practice of law and expert in the international justice system, wrote this opinion piece about the importance of having enough troops on the ground in Afghanistan to police the activities of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Professor Mike Newton testifies before the United Nations Fact-Finding Commission on the Gaza Conflict - July 7, 2009