Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesJustice John Paul Stevens addresses the American Law Institute’s annual meeting on May 21, 2012 in Washington, DC.In the two years since he retired from the Supreme Court, John Paul Stevens has set a new standard, or at least created a new model, for life after the bench: The lone voice crying in the wilderness, publicly challenging the faulty decisions of the institution he left behind.He wrote an essay for The New York Review of Books denouncing capital punishment, arguing that “regrettable judicial activism” had created an unconstitutional system tainted by racism, without appropriate safeguards to minimize the risk of putting an innocent person to death. He used his recent memoir, “Five Chiefs” as an occasion to expound on his dissenting opinion in ... Continue reading →
As a regional body, the Arab League has more often than not been the focus of ridicule in light of the torpor and ineffectiveness that has characterized its history. Since the league’s founding in 1945 by Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Transjordan, the Arab world has suffered myriad political disputes and armed conflicts, including colonial, interstate and civil wars. In addition to its failure to encourage economic, political and security cooperation, the Arab League has certainly underperformed in its mission to curb the use of force or mediate these disputes. In many ways, this is a reflection of the fragmented and contentious regional system, historically characterized by periods of intense competition and rivalry, in which the league operates. Writing in 1965, the eminent ... Continue reading →
Ten years ago, when the treaty creating the International Criminal Court took effect, the prospect of holding heads of state and powerful warlords to account for mass slaughter seemed like science fiction. Today the signs carried by Syrian protesters demanding “Assad to The Hague” are powerful testimony that the court is making its presence felt. But as the I.C.C.’s influence grows, its promise of impartial justice for the world’s worst crimes is at risk of being undercut by international politics. The I.C.C. has committed its share of missteps. Some are performance problems of its own making. At the same time, it runs the toxic risk of appearing to be used to advance the political objectives of powerful states. For a court with a mandate to ... Continue reading →
