International Law Behind The Headlines

In this episode we discuss the recent plane diversion by Belarus, which has been called a “state sponsored hijacking“. Joining us to analyze the international legal framework governing such incidents is Cameron Miles.

Episode 27: the Biden Administration and the Use of Force by American Society of International Law

President Trump sought to exit the WHO and the Paris Accord; President Biden is reversing both of those decisions. In this episode our guest Duncan Hollis, editor of the Oxford Guide to Treaties, explores how treaty exit and entrance work, who governs these processes, and many other related issues.

This episode features Kathleen Claussen, co-author of the recent “The Perils of Pandemic Exceptionalism” in the ,em>American Journal of International Law, discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic may reshape international economic law.

In this episode we speak with David Kaye, former UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, about content moderation, social media, disinformation, and international law, especially in the context of elections.

In this episode we speak with Bonnie Glaser, head of the China Power Project at CSIS, about the recent State Department endorsement of the 2016 arbitral ruling on maritime claims in the South China Sea. We cover what’s new, what’s not, and what is likely to happen between the US and China now that the US has formally endorsed the tribunal’s findings.

In this episode we speak with former National Security Council lawyer Tess Bridgeman about the Iran Deal, the recent maneuvers by the Trump administration at the UN to reimpose sanctions, and whether the US still a participant in the JCPOA.

The EU is the leading regulatory power in the world today. Why is it so influential and how does its influence manifest itself? Will it remain influential in the future? In this episode, Kal Raustiala talks to Anu Bradford about her new book The Brussels Effect.

Catherine is joined by Dr. Tom Ginsburg, Professor of International Law and Political Science at the University of Chicago, to discuss his recent article “Authoritarian International Law?” in the American Journal of International Law. Their wide-ranging conversation explores the liberal foundation of international law, how countries with authoritarian governments may be re-writing those very foundations, and the implications that can have for democracies. Catherine and Dr. Ginsburg also discuss the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in states around the world and why those responses may not quite be a harbinger of new authoritarian trends.

In this episode Kal Raustiala speaks with Gian Luca Burci, former legal counsel at the World Health Organization, about how international law shapes the response of states to infectious disease. What do WHO rules permit and forbid? Does human rights law permit quarantines? What about trade embargoes and World Trade Organization commitments?

In this episode, Catherine Amirfar speaks with Professor Katharine Young, associate professor of law at Boston College Law School and expert on human rights about her take on the last decade in human rights, especially considering the work and possible effect of the State Department’s newly-formed Commission on Unalienable Rights. Professor Young also discusses the potential role of the United States in the direction of human rights discourse and enforcement in the years ahead.

In this episode with Larry Johnson, former Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs at the UN, we discuss the recent denial of a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, which occurred as tensions between Iran and the US reached a boiling point. We explore the complex history and law governing travel to and from the UN and the US’s obligations as the host nation under the Headquarters Agreement.

This episode features a conversation with Avril Haines, assistant to the president and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama and the first woman to hold the positon of the Deputy Director of the CIA. Avril addresses the most recent events since the U.S.’s targeted drone strike of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, including the legal and policy ramifications of the strike for the United States and its allies, as well as the nature and extent of the President’s authority to order the strike under both international and US law.

In this episode we speak with former Sec. of Defense Carter about crafting national security strategy, the role of international lawyers, and his new book Inside the Five-Sided Box.

In this episode we talk with Penn Law Prof and foreign relations law expert Jean Galbraith about the legal basis and political context of the Trump administration’s recent—and unprecedented—suit against California for engaging in an agreement with Quebec to implement a shared cap and trade system.

In this episode, Catherine Amirfar and Kal Raustiala discuss this fall’s opening of the UN General Assembly and the key themes and issues that emerged, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and climate change.

Tensions between Iran and the US have reached a critical level, culminating in senior-level discourse during last week’s UN General Assembly meetings in which the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other countries focused on allegations that Iran was responsible for a military drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields. This is just the latest event in a quickly evolving military situation, with the Trump administration pulling the US out of the Iran Nuclear Deal and reinstating sanctions on Iran, and includes the US downing an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz. In this episode, Catherine Amirfar sits down with Brian Egan, a partner at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, a former senior legal official at the White House and the National Security Counsel, and the Legal Adviser at the Department of State in the Obama Administration. Brian discusses the historic moment of the tension between the two countries, as well as the international legal backdrop to the risk of a U.S. military confrontation with Iran.

What information can or should the government be able to discover in the name of national security, when information is among the most valuable currency of the intelligence community? Former General Counsel to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Robert Litt, talks through issues on the legal cutting edge of intelligence gathering and privacy. Are the concepts of privacy vs. security as diametrically opposed as they seem? Is the real issue what the government knows, or how they use it? Mr. Litt answers these questions and more, and offers his comments on the state of the intelligence community, in America and abroad, as well as the assessment of the intelligence community on Russia and its interference with the U.S. presidential election.

Ben Rhodes was one of President Obama’s most trusted foreign policy advisors, the author of many of his key foreign policy speeches, and Deputy National Security Advisor. In this episode we discuss the development of two signature international agreements of the Obama years—the Iran Deal and the Paris Accord—as well as the difficulty of securing Senate consent to treaties; the role of lawyers in the Obama White House; and the current tensions between the US and China.

The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (“INF”) Treaty, which required the destruction of the ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, was a landmark nuclear arms-control pact with Russia that has been described as a cornerstone of European security. However, citing treaty violations by Russia, the Trump Administration announced its decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty in February. Drawing from his experiences at the Defense Department where he negotiated nuclear disarmament agreements and advised on international security issues, Jeff Pryce discusses his perspectives on the historical context of the INF Treaty, the U.S. decision to withdraw, Russia’s response, the situation with China, and the significance and potential impacts of its demise. Guest: Jeff Pryce, Of Counsel at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Professorial Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Fellow at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, and fo