Melissa Stewart
@melissastewart.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Law University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law Public International Law | Human Rights | Statelessness | Int’l Environmental Law https://law.hawaii.edu/people/melissa-stewart/
The ICJ will hold public hearings on preliminary objections in Nicaragua v. Germany on September 7-10. Nicaragua alleges that Germany is complicit in genocide and failed to ensure respect for IHL in Gaza. Germany argues the claims are inadmissible because Israel is an 'indispensable third party'.
Come work with me! We’re hiring in law and technology, cybersecurity law, AI law, IP law, national security law, and international law, as well as other areas!
Jennifer Oliva@jennoliva.bsky.social · 2w ago@iumaurerlaw.bsky.social seeks to hire several TT law professors this academic year & welcomes entry-level & lateral candidates. Our hiring details and the application portal is available here: indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/33776. Our committee would love to hear from interested candidates.
One of my first real concerts was seeing The Frames at the Black Cat in 2005. Glen Hansard blew my mind. I played his album Rhythm and Repose on repeat for years whenever I needed comfort in the form of song. And when I had a small band in the Berkshires, Falling Slowly was a go to cover.
In Cisco, #SCOTUS not only (unpersuasively) eviscerated the Alien Tort Statute, but it effectively neutered a 22-year-old precedent for no other reason than that the Republican appointees disagree w/ it. Today’s “One First” goes deep into the ruling—and why stare decisis is really *is* for suckers:
240. The Rise and Fall of the Alien Tort Statute
The Court's June 23 ruling in Cisco was significant not only for what it means for human rights accountability, but for the justices' approach to stare decisis.
stevevladeck.com
“Worryingly, research is beginning to indicate that shifting too much “cognitive load” onto AI can lead to the atrophy of core intellectual processes, including memory, concentration and analytical skills.” www.smh.com.au/national/nev...
‘Never-skilling’: High school rush to AI threatens to create a generation of dunces
Research is beginning to indicate that reliance on AI can lead to the atrophy of core intellectual processes, including memory, concentration and analytical skills.
smh.com.au
In this issue: 3 Book Reviews: (1) @annetrebilcock.bsky.social reviews International Organization Initiatives: How and Why Organizations Adapt and Change, edited by Gabrielle Marceau and @hgoett.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/ysy6hyks
International Organization Initiatives: How and Why Organizations Adapt and Change. Edited by Gabrielle Marceau and Henner Gött, assisted by Akshaya Venkataraman and Ana Balcazar-Moreno. Oxford, UK: O...
International Organization Initiatives: How and Why Organizations Adapt and Change. Edited by Gabrielle Marceau and Henner Gött, assisted by Akshaya Venkataraman and Ana Balcazar-Moreno. Oxford, UK: O...
tinyurl.com
AJIL and AJIL Unbound@ajil.bsky.social · 3w agoThe July Issue of AJIL is now online. Explore the latest issue and discover what's driving the conversation in international law. ➡️ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
In this issue: @keitnerlaw.com's “State Responsibility as Myth and Legend” uses Alan Tzvika Nissel’s Merchants of Legalism+Allison Powers Useche’s Arbitrating Empire to explore how late 19th/early 20th cent. arbitration furthered subordination yet created frameworks for justice: tinyurl.com/fp5kubyk
State Responsibility as Myth and Legend | American Journal of International Law | Cambridge Core
State Responsibility as Myth and Legend - Volume 120 Issue 3
tinyurl.com
AJIL and AJIL Unbound@ajil.bsky.social · 3w agoThe July Issue of AJIL is now online. Explore the latest issue and discover what's driving the conversation in international law. ➡️ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
On Tuesday, the full Fifth Circuit granted DOJ's request for a "precedential stay" of district court rulings holding that the Due Process Clause requires bond hearings for immigration detainees w/in 90 days of their arrest. Today's "One First" explains why that's a really big (and problematic) deal:
Bonus 239: The Fifth Circuit's "Precedential Stay" in Sosnava Rodriguez
The Fifth Circuit once again did the government's bidding on immigration detention—this time through an unexplained procedural move I've never seen before.
stevevladeck.com
The UNHCR archives in Geneva are at risk; reading room already closed - and there's a much broader 'humanitarian archive emergency' ongoing with aid budget cuts. www.aretenews.com/unhcr-refuge...
As aid funds shrink, archivists warn of risks to the humanitarian record
UNHCR's archives are a test case for humanitarians struggling to preserve institutional memory in an era of retrenchment.
aretenews.com
Jon Finer, Biden’s deputy national-security adviser said that, for both Hamas and Israel, “civilian harm was not a side effect but part of the strategy.” The U.S., he said, “shouldn’t tolerate wars in which civilian harm is a goal, [or] allow our weapons to be used for that purpose.”
The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 2w agoTop officials from the previous Administration now express regret over their failure to rein in Netanyahu. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Yesterday the US Administration supercharged its explicit effort to bar international students from staying in the US after graduation. All Americans should know: 1/3 of *all* STEM PhDs working in the US are immigrants who graduated from US universities, then stayed. www.piie.com/index%2Ephp/...
BREAKING: in June 2026, *every single one* of the 1,062 refugees admitted in the U.S. were white South Africans. In FY 2026, the U.S. has admitted a total of 7,727 white South Africans, three Afghans (back in November), and nobody else. For reference, the U.S. admitted 100,060 refugees in 2024.
rpc.state.gov
Alex Ip 葉清霖@alexip718.com · 2mo agoBREAKING: in May 2026, *every single one* of the 599 refugees admitted in the U.S. were white South Africans. In FY 2026, the U.S. has admitted a total of 6,665 white South Africans, three Afghans (back in November 2025), and nobody else. For reference, the U.S. admitted 100,060 refugees in 2024.
Happy 4th to you + yours. Did you know the colonists were BIG MAD at King George III over migration & citizenship issues to the point that these end up as enumerated line items in the Declaration of Independence? Drawn from the colonial chapter of Migration & the Origins of American Citizenship.
What the Declaration of Independence Said About Migration and Citizenship — Anna O. Law
The Declaration of Independence is essentially a list of colonial grievances against King George III and enumerated reasons why the colonists were breaking away from Britain. I’ve described it to my s...
annaolaw.com
If "domicile" is what matters, what about two U.S. citizens domiciled in Europe who fly back to the U.S. to have a baby. Is their baby a birthright citizen under the 14th Amendment, or only thanks to "jus sanguinis" laws passed by Congress? These and many other questions go unanswered by Thomas.
Paul Gowder@gowder.io · last mo.is Justice Thomas going to bother explaining how this logic works with things like the U.S.’s infamous policy of inflicting extraterritorial taxation on its citizens who live abroad?
I think a lot of people underestimate how complicated life could get if your birth certificate wasn't accepted as prima facie evidence of US citizenship, absent some new federal bureaucracy that vetted and registered qualified births.
Is irregular status just a category that vulnerable people happen to fall into – or itself a source of vulnerability? PEDRO SANZ DÍAZ on what Spain's extraordinary regularisation reveals about the legal architecture of migrant vulnerability. verfassungsblog.de/vulnerabilit...
Early last year, I wrote about what I called the "rule-of-law" split on the Supreme Court—where Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett joined the three Democratic appointees in 5-4 rulings. Cook was an example of this yesterday; the Fourteenth Amendment holding in Barbara is a bigger one today.
And a lest we forget Justice Kavanaugh writes separately because while he agrees with the judgment in this case that Trump cannot change birthright citizenship by EO, he believes that Congress can by statute create exceptions to birthright citizenship that would mirror the provisions of Trump’s EO.
I am stunned that the constitutional question was so close. I thought it would be 6–3 or 7–2. It is profoundly disturbing that four justices would allow either the president or Congress to rewrite the plain text of the 14th Amendment. This is obviously a good outcome, but the margin is alarming.
Kavanaugh concurs and dissents in part: He holds that Trump's order does NOT violate the 14th Amendment, but does violate a federal statute. He says Congress could change the statute to effectuate Trump's order in the future. Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
The Supreme Court strikes down Trump's attack on birthright citizenship. By a 5–4 vote, it holds that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born of unauthorized and temporary immigrants. Roberts and Barrett join the three liberals. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
Donald Trump came one vote away from getting the Supreme Court to say that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented and temporary immigrants, a view held only by fringe far-right nativists until VERY recently. This is shocking. I am stunned.
2 more thoughts on birthright: 1. The movement to overturn Roe and Humphrey's Executor was built over decades. It took an enormous amount of effort to manufacture that sense of scholarly viability (see: Teles, Hollis-Brusky). The right got 5-4 on birthright with a sloppy last-minute scramble
But 5-4 on the text of the constitution is pretty shocking!
With this ruling, the birthright issue is not going away. The right hasn't really begun *organizing* around getting rid of the citizenship clause. Like Roe, this will be their fight for a generation. And if the Democrats just say "we won" and ignore it, like Roe, the Republicans will eventually win.
New #CalledToTheBar! A roadshow episode recorded at the workshop "Australia’s Relationship with the UN Security Council" feat. @dchovell.bsky.social. Conversations reflect on Australia’s role in the UNSC over eight decades, looking both backwards & to future challenges soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...
81. Australia and the Security Council: ANU Roadshow
In this roadshow episode, recorded at the workshop Australia’s Relationship with the UN Security Council: Eighty Years and Counting at the Australian National University, Douglas Guilfoyle, Imogen Sau
soundcloud.com
New #ICJ case: DRC accuses Rwanda of violating the Genocide Convention, CERD, CEDAW, and CAT. We've been down this road before; the ICJ dismissed another DRC v Rwanda case back in 2006 for lack of jurisdiction. 20 years later, have those problems been overcome? www.icj-cij.org/sites/defaul...
icj-cij.org
Salvador Santino Regilme ed., Statelessness and Citizenship Revocation in Europe: Rethinking Politics, Law, Security, and Human Rights - De Gruyter Brlll, July 2026 www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
