In defense of the Supreme Court decision in Alvarez-Machain
Article Abstract:
The Supreme Court held in United States v Alvarez-Machain that a US court had the jurisdiction to try a Mexican national charged with colluding in the kidnapping and murder of a US drug enforcement agent. The court did acknowledge that the kidnapping may have violated international law. Their holding that the kidnapping did not bar the defendant's trial applies the long-standing Ker-Frisbie doctrine of US law, the international law rule of 'male captus, bene detentus' and ample precedent stating that jurisdiction is not vitiated by seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Publication Name: American Journal of International Law
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0002-9300
Year: 1992
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State-sponsored abduction: a comment on United States v. Alvarez-Machain
Article Abstract:
The Supreme Court in United States v Alvarez-Machain used an antiquated doctrine allowing the trial of a defendant who was unlawfully seized. The Constitution gives the president the duty to see to it that laws are executed, and this case's holding that the president can disregard the international law norm forbidding kidnapping people from other countries contravenes that duty. Some proponents of the decision maintain that the protective principle of jurisdiction authorizes such abductions, but this is not the case. Moreover, state-authorized kidnapping weakens US security.
Publication Name: American Journal of International Law
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0002-9300
Year: 1992
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United States ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
Article Abstract:
The US should ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women without a non-self-executing declaration joined with an intent to not enact enabling legislation. Such a conditioned ratification would violate both international law and the Supremacy Clause of art. 6 of the Constitution. Further, the world community might question the good faith of the US regarding its committment to the promotion and protection of women's rights internationally and domestically.
Publication Name: George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0748-4305
Year: 1997
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