PUBLICATIONS
International Litigation in U.S. Courts
Law Review
Homage to Filártiga - The Review of Litigation (2014)
The Supreme Court’s new decision in Kiobel severely restricted human rights litigation under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). In doing so, the Court gravely injured the canonical human rights case of Filártiga. This essay celebrates Filártiga, demonstrating that it survives Kiobel in four key respects: its approach to the sources of international law, its conclusion that international law prohibits torture, its dynamic vision of the way the human rights revolution transformed international law, and its hope that courts can help make real a world without torture. The essay presents Filártiga as a living presence and a beacon for future development of the law. By explaining and celebrating Filártiga’s continuing vitality in this way, this essay also offers a Filártiga-based critique that exposes Kiobel’s limits and weaknesses and contributes to a budding controversy about the meaning and effects of Kiobel and the future of human rights litigation after Kiobel.
Mismanagement and Misinterpretation: U.S. Judicial Implementation of the Warsaw Convention in Air Disaster Litigation - Journal of Air Law and Commerce (1995)
This article explores the implementation of the Warsaw Convention in international air disaster lawsuits in U.S. courts, including their approach to mass tort management and treaty interpretation. Specifically, the article evaluates the Warsaw Convention according to the rules of treaty interpretation codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and a test for mass tort management developed by Judge Jack Weinstein.
Short Articles
Treaty Law: A Primer for Human Rights Lawyers - ACLU International Civil Liberties Report (1994)
This short article introduces the law of treaties to domestic lawyers handling civil liberties cases.
Presentations
A First Look at Litigation under the Helms-Burton Act - ASIL Tillar House (2019)
This is the link to a video of a panel I moderated about litigation under the Helms-Burton Act concerning claims to expropriated property in Cuba. The panel was held at the American Society of International Law headquarters in October 2019.