Human Rights

 

This all day CLE program is designed for domestic public interest lawyers who are interested in adding an international human rights component to their work.  After introducing basic concepts of human rights and international law, the CLE will focus on the status of human rights treaties and customary international law in the U.S. legal system and discuss current strategies for using international human rights law in domestic courts.  The program will look at key recent cases involving issues such as the Alien Tort Statute, the death penalty and torture.

To register, contact csooho@law.columbia.edu
 

 International Human Rights and U.S. Law

CLE Program Description

March 4, 2005

Registration (9:30-9:40)

Opening Remarks (9:45-9:55)

Session I: What Are International Human Rights? (10:00-10:50)

Peter Rosenblum, Columbia Law School

This session will provide a general introduction to international human rights law.  The session will begin with a history of the contemporary international human rights movement and the role of the U.N. system in monitoring and implementing human rights norms.  Particular emphasis will be placed on the way international and regional human rights systems and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) influence domestic law and norms.   

Session II: International Law & Human Rights (11:00-11:50)

Jose Alvarez, Columbia Law School

This session will introduce participants to basic principals of international law, including the sources and character of international law with an emphasis on the special character of human rights law.  Treaty law topics to be covered include: treaty interpretation, reservations, understandings and declarations (RUDs), and the role of U.N. treaty bodies in interpreting treaties and monitoring treaty compliance.  Customary international law (CIL) topics to be covered include: the definition and formation of CIL, the persistent objector rule, and jus cogens norms.  The session will also introduce basic concepts of international humanitarian law.    

Lunch Session: Focus on: Torture (12:00-12:50)

Wendy Patten, HRW

This lunch session will discuss international and domestic prohibitions on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including the source and content of U.S. legal obligations to refrain from such human rights violations.  The session will then look at the “torture memos” written by members of the Bush administration and address arguments that the President’s power as commander-in-chief includes authority to employ torture to defend national security and legal arguments to avoid prosecution of government officials who engage in torture.  It will also discuss extraordinary renditions, the practice by which the U.S. has sent individuals to countries that engage in torture and other coercive interrogation techniques.

Session III: Human Rights Treaties and the United States (1:00-1:50)

Lori Damrosch, Columbia Law School 

This session will begin with an overview of U.S. law of treaties and the relationship between U.S. treaties, acts of Congress, state law, and the Executive Branch. Topics to be covered include: the “Charming Betsy” and “last in time” rules.   The session will then discuss human rights treaties ratified by the United States and the RUDs attached to the treaties with particular emphasis on the doctrine of non-self-executing treaties.  This session will also address the pending case of Medellin v. Dretke, in which the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in a case seeking implementation of the International Court of Justice’s judgment in Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. U.S.) through federal habeas corpus proceedings.

Session IV: Customary International Law and the United States (2:00-2:50)

Beth Stephens, Rutgers Law School

This session will discuss the status of customary international law in U.S. courts, looking at the historic relationship between the law of nations and U.S. law, the current debate over whether CIL is federal common law and its implications.  This session will also discuss recent Alien Tort Statute cases, including Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain and Flores v. Southern Peru Copper Corp. to determine when violations of international law are actionable under the ATS and the showing necessary for establishing CIL in U.S. courts.

Session V: Using Human Rights Law in U.S. Courts (3:00-3:50)

Martha Davis, Northeastern Law School and former Legal Director for NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund

This session will consider strategic issues concerning the use of human rights law and help participants determine when and how to use human rights law in domestic courts.    This session will build upon the content of earlier sessions and introduce the use of human rights law as a source of persuasive authority.  Finally, the session will discuss the Supreme Court’s use of foreign and international sources in Atkins v. Virginia, Lawrence v. Texas, and Roper v. Simmons and the current Congressional and scholarly debate regarding the proper use of such sources.