Today the United States celebrates Juneteenth, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.  Juneteenth is the anniversary of the day in 1865 on which Union Major General Gordon Granger informed 200,000 enslaved people in Texas that they were free by executive decree.  Juneteenth was a day of joy and celebration, and we [...]

Following global practice — including that of the U.S. military justice system — the Pakistan Army Act builds on maintaining good order and discipline among service members, as no military can effectively function without strict discipline. The court-martial, that is, trial by military officers of breaches of service-connected discipline, including crimes, sits at the heart [...]

Vladimir Putin’s multiple crimes against Ukraine include aggression and genocide. But what happens when these two categories of criminality come together? Among other things, this result is not “merely” additive; it is also synergistic. Hence, the cumulative Russian wrongdoing is actually greater than the calculable sum of its component “parts.” What pertinent connections ought to [...]

On June 6, 2023, an en banc panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(1), the “felon in possession of a firearm” statute, is unconstitutional as applied to one individual, Bryan Range. While the decision purports to be “a narrow one” the rationale that underpins the [...]

Continued attacks on civilians and civilian objects by the armed forces of the Russian Federation violate international law and basic human decency. Over the past centuries, mankind has attempted to govern conduct on the battlefield in the hope that those found on the battlefield, such as the wounded and sick, prisoners of war, and civilians, [...]

Tensions between U.S. presidents and the press date back to George Washington. America’s founding father found himself gnashing his hippopotamus ivory dentures when newspapers accused him of monarchical rule. Few subsequent American leaders have been spared harsh media criticism. Abe Lincoln was lambasted by some of the most influential newspapers of his time for his [...]

In jurisprudential matters, whether national or international, precedent remains vitally important. When former (and possibly future) US President Donald J. Trump issued illegal pardons to selected American officials for established crimes against international law, the consequences reverberated in other countries. Now, with still-mounting Russian crimes against Ukraine –  crimes of war; crimes against peace; and crimes [...]

The Taliban’s ascension to power in Afghanistan two years ago dealt two significant blows to the nation’s legal system. Firstly, they orchestrated a mass release of prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters convicted of severe crimes. This unexpected action placed court personnel who had been involved in their sentencing in immediate danger, making them [...]

In February 2022, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published a report, accusing Facebook of inciting ethnic violence and disseminating misinformation in Ethiopia. A senior government official condemned the tech giant, accusing it of standing idle as the nation descended into chaos. Yet, as previously announced, the Ethiopian government refused to sit by idly and pledged [...]

Civil action and criminal prosecution are the two great substitutes invented by law to replace revenge, a deeply wired instinct among humans expressed in a Mesopotamian maxim, an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. In Pakistan, most ironically, civil litigation and criminal prosecution have become the revenge instrument, particularly among ruling elites fighting [...]