Israel

Georgia Law Professor Amann featured in The Wall Street Journal on Gaza ruling by International Court of Justice

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Diane Marie Amann was featured in The Wall Street Journal regarding the recent order of the International Court of Justice in the Genocide Convention case which South Africa has filed against Israel. 

The article titled “World Court Rejects Demands for Gaza Cease-Fire” was written by Jess Bravin and was published on January 26.

After reporting the opinion of Utah Law Professor Amos Guiora , that both parties won something, and that, in the words of the article, “Israel avoided a legal ruling that would force it either to stop military operations or defy the world court,” Bravin then wrote:

Still, the conduct of the Gaza campaign received no pass, said Diane Marie Amann, an international-law professor at the University of Georgia. ‘Israel will need to adjust if it wishes to comply with the court’s order,’ she said.

Amann is Regents’ Professor, Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, and Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center here at the University of Georgia School of Law. She teaches and publishes regularly on matters relating to international law.

Georgia Law Professor Kadri presents on digital evidence and security in law conference at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Thomas E. Kadri presented at a three-day Research Workshop of the Israel Science Foundation, held last month at Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law.

Kadri (prior posts) presented “A Socio-Technical Framework for Handling Digital Evidence with Security and Privacy Assurances,” as part of a panel on “Digitalization in the Courts.”

The conference, entitled “Smart Compliance Systems in the AI Era: Combining Criminal and Administrative Measures,” brought together scholars from Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland as well as Israel and the United States.

The University of Georgia School of Law has a longstanding partnership with the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law, focused on faculty exchange.

Georgia Law Professor Cohen presents “Culture Clash: Sociology of WTO Precedent” at Tel Aviv Law workshop

Harlan Cohen, the Gabriel M. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center here at the University of Georgia School of Law, gave an online presentation Monday of “Culture Clash: The Sociology of WTO Precedent,” as part of the International Law Workshop at the Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University. Conveners of the weekly workshop series are Tel Aviv Law faculty members Natalie Davidson, Aeyal Gross, and Eliav Lieblich.

Georgia Law Professor Harlan Cohen on “Metaphors of International Law”

Harlan G. Cohen, Gabriel M. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law, has posted “Metaphors of International Law”, to appear in International Law’s Invisible Frames – Social Cognition and Knowledge Production in International Legal Processes.

Set to be published by Oxford University Press in 2021, the volume is co-edited by Andrea Bianchi, Professor of International Law at Switzerland’s Graduate Institute Geneva, and Moshe Hirsch, Maria Von Hofmannsthal Chair in International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Cohen presented the essay at a European Society of International Law workshop in Israel last December (prior post).

Here’s the abstract:

This chapter explores international law in search of its hidden and not-so-hidden metaphors. In so doing, it discovers a world inhabited by states, where rules are mined or picked when ripe, where trade keeps boats forever afloat on rising tides. But is also unveils a world in which voices are silenced, inequality is ignored, and hands are washed of responsibility.

International law is built on metaphors. Metaphors provide a language to describe and convey the law’s operation, help international lawyers identify legal subjects and categorize situations in doctrinal categories, and provide normative justifications for the law. Exploring their operation at each of these levels, this chapter describes the ways metaphors allow international lawyers to build a shared, tangible universe of legal meaning. But it also reveals how metaphors simultaneously help hide international law’s dark side, blind international lawyers to alternative ways of organizing the world, and prejudge legal outcomes. Metaphors, a key building block of the international law we know, become key also to its demolition, restoration, or remodeling.

The chapter is now available at SSRN.

Foreign media quote Georgia Law Professor Elizabeth Burch on mass tort suits against Bayer herbicide Roundup

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, an expert on mass torts and complex litigation, recently was quoted in overseas news media regarding ongoing lawsuits against Bayer AG, the Germany-based multinational corporation.

The reporting centered on negotiations to end U.S. litigation in which tens of thousands of plaintiffs have alleged that glyphosate, an ingredient in the Bayer herbicide Roundup, is a carcinogen that causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

In an article entitled “Bayer vor Glyphosat-Einigung – So sieht der teure Plan aus” (“Bayer before the Glyphosate Agreement – This Is What the Expensive Plan Looks Like”), reporters Bert Fröndhoff and Katharina Kort wrote:

“Legal expert Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, professor at the University of Georgia, thinks it makes sense in principle to withdraw the product from the market beyond agricultural use. ‘But even that doesn’t solve the problem of complaints that can come from those who have already used the product,’ warns the lawyer.”

(Translated from the original German.) The article appeared in Handelsblatt, a business newspaper headquartered in Düsseldorf.

A separate article on the same subject, “Q&A – What Are the Obstacles to Bayer Settling Roundup Lawsuits,” appeared in Israel’s Haaretz. It this article, Reuters reporter Tina Bellon wrote:

“Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on average can take up to 10 years to emerge, increasing the likelihood of claims being filed after the litigation has settled. Product liability settlements generally include a cut-off date for future claimants and need to be properly funded for a court to approve the agreement.

“As long as the product continues to be sold without changes to the label, plaintiffs may continue to file lawsuits, said Elizabeth Burch, a law professor at the University of Georgia.”

Professor Burch, holder of the Fuller E. Callaway Chair of Law here at the University of Georgia School of Law,  is the author of Mass Tort Deals: Backroom Bargaining in Multidistrict Litigation (Cambridge University Press 2019). In 2017, she presented at an international conference held by Tel Aviv University.

Georgia Law Professor Harlan Cohen presents at Hebrew University on “Metaphors and International Law”

Harlan G. Cohen, Gabriel M. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law, presented earlier this month at “International Law’s Invisible Frames – Social Cognition and Knowledge Production in International Legal Processes,” a 2-day conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law in Israel.

Cohen’s presented “Metaphors and International Law” on a panel, chaired by  Moshe Hirsch, which also included a talk by Dr. Shiri Krebs of Australia’s Deakin University Law School. The discussant was Hebrew University Law Professor Tomer Broude.

Georgia Law Professor Lori Ringhand reflects on faculty exchange in Israel

Pleased today to welcome a contribution from Lori A. Ringhand, J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law here at the University of Georgia School of Law. Professor Ringhand concentrates her teaching and scholarship in the areas of constitutional law, election law, and state and local government law – including comparative approaches. She is currently in residence at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Spring 2019. She contributes the post below on her recent faculty exchange experience at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

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I recently had the pleasure of participating in the faculty exchange between the University of Georgia School of Law and the Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel. This initiative lets faculty members from each school teach a mini-course at the other, as well as providing faculty with the opportunity to spend time sharing ideas and working with their colleagues abroad.

I taught Comparative Constitutional Law to a group of about fifteen law students at Bar-Ilan. Each day involved introductory readings, a short lecture, a group project, and student presentations. My students gave presentations on judicial selection methods, judicial review of executive powers in wartime, and the international law of secession. I learned a great deal, and hope they did as well.

df26b686-af56-4ff9-887a-262b0ccbb8e6I also had the opportunity to talk about my work on the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation process. Despite the dismal reputation of confirmation hearings, my empirical work in this area demonstrates that these hearings play an important role in providing public validation of constitutional change over time. Israel is debating its own high court confirmation process, and I was honored to share my views on the U.S. system on Walla! Global! with anchor Oren Hahari, to do an interview with renowned Israeli journalist Ya’akov Ahimeir, and to lead a research seminar with the Bar-Ilan faculty. It was fun – and challenging – to defend my views in the wake of the hotly contested Kavanaugh hearings.

IMG_0036The highlight of the trip, though, was a weekend trip Jerusalem. I had never visited this part of the world, and touring such an ancient city was an unforgettable experience. The religious and cultural significance of the city is obvious, and seeing such a mix of cultures and peoples figuring out how to share their holy lands was an extraordinary experience. History really does come to life in places like Jerusalem, and I am grateful to the Dean Rusk International Law Center and Bar-Ilan University for making my trip possible.

Georgia Law Professor Ringhand to meet with prospective LLM students in Tel Aviv, Israel

1 Lori A. Ringhand, a J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law here at the the University of Georgia School of Law, will meet this Wednesday, November 28, with law students and lawyers in Israel who are interested in postgraduate legal study in the United States. Hosted by EducationUSA Israel, the event is set for 5 p.m. at the Fulbright offices in Tel Aviv, 74-76 Sderot Rothschild.

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Ringhand is in Israel teaching a short course at Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law, with which Georgia Law has a faculty exchange partnership.

A scholar whose expertise includes comparative constitutional law, Ringhand earned a B.C.L. in European and Comparative Law from Oxford University in England, and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. She has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair for Spring 2019, when she will be in residence at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

At Wednesday’s event, students and practitioners in attendance will have the opportunity to learn more about what it is like to study law in the United States, and how an LL.M. degree can help advance their careers. Interested students should register to attend.

Details about Georgia Law’s LL.M. degree here.

Student Rebecca Wackym on her GEO at Hebron Rehabilitation Committee

This is one in a series of posts by University of Georgia School of Law students, writing on their participation in our 2017 Global Governance Summer School or Global Externship Overseas initiative. Author of this post is 2L Rebecca Wackym, who spent her 1L summer as a GEO, or Global Extern Overseas.

For six weeks this summer, I lived and worked in the ancient and industrial city of Hebron (in Arabic, “Al-Khalil”) in the southern West Bank. Hebron is often touted as a “microcosm” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And for good reason: Hebron’s contested Old City district is home to both 30,000 Palestinians and 500-800 Israeli settlers, the latter protected by approximately 2,000 Israeli troops.

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At the center of the Old City and the conflict in Hebron is the Ibrahimi Mosque. It is the burial place of the patriarchs of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah. It is the oldest religious building in the world that has been continually used for its original purpose, and it is the only religious building that serves as both a mosque and a synagogue. Much like the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock area, the Ibrahimi Mosque has been the subject of a tug of war between the Israelis and Palestinians since the occupation began.

The organization I worked for, Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC), is on the front lines of the battle for cultural heritage rights. HRC succeeded in its efforts to designate the Ibrahimi Mosque and the Old City of Hebron as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger. During my time in Hebron, I worked with the Legal Unit of Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, which was founded to respond to human rights violations against the Palestinian citizens of the Old City, particularly violations pertaining to personal and public property.

Wackym6.jpgThe Legal Unit of the HRC uses several legal and policy strategies to achieve this purpose. These include: filing domestic complaints against Israeli Defense Forces orders; filing complaints with various international human rights bodies; conducting international awareness campaigns; and directly educating Palestinians about their rights. I had the opportunity to work on several of these complaints. On one filed with the United Nations Human Rights Council, I did research on Israeli case law.  My research involved the exhaustion of domestic remedies requirement in the context of road closure cases, in which the courts typically do not get involved if the closure can be justified by a “security-related” reason. I also wrote a complaint to the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. For this project, I conducted interviews with victims, compiled evidence, and researched relevant military orders and case law.

The transition from living in the United States to living in a conservative, Muslim-majority place was daunting, but my supervisor, Nicole Trudeau, did everything she could to ease the culture shock. She introduced me to her Palestinian friends and invited me to eat with local residents of the Old City. I felt very welcome and even at home during my time in Hebron. The professional culture was more relaxed than in the United States – the office closed at 3 pm, and tea breaks were customary– but I was surprised to find that it was also almost as progressive. Women outnumbered men in the office and had leadership roles. It was an eye-opening to see a conservative culture value women in the workforce.

During my externship with HRC, I received an invaluable education not only in human rights, cultural heritage, and humanitarian law practice, but also in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and their respective cultures. I spent weekends traveling all over Israel and the West Bank. I spoke with members of the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian soldiers, young people in Tel Aviv and Ramallah, settlers in Hebron, and local and international activists just trying to make the situation better. The experience was absolutely incredible. And I will never forget the friends I left in Hebron. Salam!

Cohen publishes article on political question doctrine in wake of Zivotofsky

Harlan Grant Cohen, the Gabriel N. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law here at the University of Georgia School of Law, has published an article examining the U.S. political question doctrine in light of recent Supreme Court litigation in Zivotofsky, which arose out of the request by U.S. citizens that their child, born in Jerusalem, be issued a passport designating “Israel” as the child’s birthplace. Entitled “A Politics-Reinforcing Political Question Doctrine,” Professor Cohen’s article appears at 49 Arizona State Law Journal 1 (2017).

The manuscript, which forms part of our Dean Rusk International Law Center Research Paper Series at SSRN, may be downloaded at this SSRN link.

Here’s the abstract:

“The modern political question doctrine has long been criticized for shielding the political branches from proper judicial scrutiny and allowing the courts to abdicate their responsibilities. Critics of the doctrine thus cheered when the Supreme Court, in Zivotofsky I, announced a narrowing of the doctrine. Their joy though may have been short-lived. Almost immediately, Zivotofsky II demonstrated the dark side of judicial review of the separation of powers between Congress and the President: deciding separations of powers cases may permanently cut one of the political branches out of certain debates. Judicial scrutiny in a particular case could eliminate political scrutiny in many future ones.

“A return to the old political question doctrine, with its obsequious deference to political branch decisions, is not the answer. Instead, what is needed is a politics-reinforcing political question doctrine that can balance the need for robust review with the desire for robust debate. The uncertain boundaries between the political branches’ overlapping powers create space for political debate. Their overlapping powers allow different groups to access the political system and have a voice on policy. Deciding separation of powers questions once-and-for-all can shut off those access points, shutting down political debate. A politics-reinforcing political question doctrine preserves the space in the political system for those debates by turning the pre-Zivotofsky political question doctrine on its head. Whereas the pre-Zivotofsky political question suggested abstention when the branches were in agreement and scrutiny when they were opposed, a politics-reinforcing political question doctrine suggests the opposite, allowing live debates to continue while scrutinizing political settlements. In so doing, it brings pluralism and politics back into the political question analysis, encouraging democracy rather than deference.”