“For by Wise Counsel, Thou Shalt Make Thy War.” Proverbs 24.6 For mostly good reason, policy discussions of Israel’s nuclear strategy and doctrine have been intentionally vague and without evident nuance. More specifically, there have been few open-literature assessments of a limited nuclear war and its law-supported capacity for enhancing Israel’s strategic deterrence. Now, however, [...]
The conservative justices on the Roberts Court consistently lecture the American people about the importance of text, history, and tradition to constitutional litigation. They use the term originalism as a catch-all phrase for their alleged focus on prior law. They want the American people to believe that their preferred outcomes are based on legal sources [...]
As we mark the one-year anniversary of the horrific October 7 attacks on Israeli civilians, it’s essential to reflect not only on the immediate tragedies of that day, but also on the ensuing conflict that has led to a cycle of escalating violence and suffering. While Israel’s initial retaliation against Hamas may have been lawful [...]
The opening days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a fierce and inspiring response by ordinary Ukrainians. They joined together in a mass uprising to defend their homeland. Under international humanitarian law (IHL), such an act of resistance is known as a “levée en masse” (levée). A levée is a unique category that temporarily [...]
The imperatives are plain. Whatever the trajectory of wars in the region, Israel has a law-based obligation to keep Iran non-nuclear. Immediately and incrementally, therefore, Jerusalem will need to ensure “escalation dominance” during periods of competitive risk-taking. This overriding responsibility concerns both Iran’s sub-state proxies (especially Shiite Hezbollah and Sunni Hamas) and Iran directly. What [...]
Does the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) preempt New York’s use of federal campaign finance violations to enhance Donald Trump’s criminal penalties for falsifying his New York business records? Professor Elizabeth Price Foley (Florida International University) and conservative media commentator David Rivkin argued in the Wall Street Journal last week that it does, since FECA [...]
In the Israel-Hamas war, accusations of an Israeli “genocide” against the people of Gaza have created fierce debate and, consequently, warrant a reappraisal of the meaning of the term. Far from the historical and legal definition of the word, accusations of genocide against Israel have transformed the very essence of the word. This is lexical [...]
President Biden’s recent proposal for eighteen-year term limits for U.S. Supreme Court Justices is a watershed in the perennial controversy over the composition and powers of the U.S. Supreme Court insofar as it is the first time that a sitting President has called for institutional reform of the Court. Although Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Court-packing plan [...]
In 2012, Governor Mitt Romney was the Republican candidate for President of the United States, and Representative Paul Ryan (Wisconsin) ran for Vice President of the United States, as Mitt Romney’s running mate. On August 23, 2012, I published an article, on Jurist, discussing whether Representative Ryan, should he prevail in both elections, could concurrently [...]
Member states of the United Nations are bound by the rule of law, both within their borders and in their interactions on the global stage. This legal framework includes international humanitarian law, which aims to protect civilians during times of armed conflict. Israel, as a member state, has an obligation under the Fourth Geneva Convention [...]
