The Federalist Society's Facutly Division hosted this debate on "The Alien Tort Statute, International Law, and the Judiciary" on Friday, January 6, 2012, during the 14th Annual Faculty Conference. Speakers included Prof. Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University School of Law; Prof. Stephen Vladeck of American University Washington College of Law; and Ms. Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director & Executive Vice President of the American Society of International Law, as the moderator.

For decades, human rights activists have successfully petitioned state and national governments in developed countries to fund such economic rights as the right to housing, the right to education, the right to a clean and safe environment, the right to work, the right to social security, and the right to health. Just at the time that the bill is coming due for such expenditures and developed countries are facing the resulting global economic crisis, these advocates are pursuing the realization of these economic rights in developing countries. However, a lack of government funding is forcing them to look to transnational corporations and other multinational business enterprises for the funding of their social welfare ambitions. In doing so, they are relying on a matrix of human rights governance networks (the “Matrix”) first described in a 2008 article in this journal. This follow-up article explains 1) how human rights activists and multinational institutions are using the Matrix to govern the operations of multinational business enterprises; 2) how the Matrix has become an “intellectual complex adaptive system” that, after facing initial resistance from the business community, has evolved to increase its scope and effectiveness; and 3) some steps that multinational businesses might take to resist the Matrix. [Read more!]

The International & National Security Law Practice Group hosted this panel on "The War-on-Terror Government" on Friday, November 11, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. The panel featured Hon. Stewart A. Baker of Steptoe & Johnson LLP and former Assistant U.S. Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Dr. Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; Mr. Julian Sánchez of The Cato Institute; Mr. Benjamin Wittes of the The Brookings Institution; and Prof. Nathan A. Sales of George Mason University School of Law as the moderator.

The West is also now experiencing a move toward new blasphemy standards through bans on "hate speech," "the stereotyping of Islam," and charges of "Islamophobia." The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) within the United Nations and in the European Union has been a visible proponent of hate speech restrictions and other measures. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that the U.S. government will sponsor a conference with the OIC on how to implement a U.N. resolution combating "negative stereotyping" of Islam, the focus of a recent U.N. resolution. Speakers at our conference on November 4 addressed the prevalence of trends concerning hate speech and blasphemy laws, and whether they pose a serious threat to the freedoms of citizens of the West, including Muslims, as well as people in OIC member states. This panel featured Mr. Paul Marshall and Ms. Nina Shea, both of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, as they discussed their new book Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide. Introduction by Mr. Jonathan Bunch, Vice President & Director of State Courts at the Federalist Society.