Salt Blog

By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law, Advocates for U.S. Torture Prosecutions In preparing for next week’s periodic review of the United States before the UN Committee Against Torture, I noted that Harold Hongju Koh has weighed in…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law, Advocates for US Torture Prosecutions John  Bellinger (Lawfareblog.com –http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/10/the-convention-against-torture-extraterritorial-application-and-application-to-military-operations/), Beth van Schaak (Just Security.org http://justsecurity.org/16560/convention-torture/), and Jack Goldsmith (again at Lawfareblog.com – http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/10/a-bit-more-on-the-debate-about-the-extraterritorial-scope-of-the-torture-conventions-provisions-on-cruelty/ ) have weighed in on the CAT and extraterritoriality. Charlie Savage…

 By Justin Hansford The thing about jail is there is nothing to do. The novelty wears off after about five minutes. My cell was maybe 10-feet long and 8-feet wide, with a toilet, a faucet, and a sink. On the right was a metal bunk bed, and on…

By Benjamin G Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law, Advocates for US Torture Prosecutions Charlie Savage recently reported on two points in the interagency on cruel inhuman and degrading treatment (CID).  The first is on the extent the provisions of the Convention Against Torture apply…

 by SpearIt For students of religion and students of revolution, the upcoming dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian should be a valuable lesson. Taking place at Riverside Church in New York City, this meeting of the minds has tremendous potential to advance understanding on the relationship between…

by Marjorie Cohn For many years after the Vietnam War, we enjoyed the “Vietnam syndrome,” in which US presidents hesitated to launch substantial military attacks on other countries. They feared intense opposition akin to the powerful movement that helped bring an end to the war in Vietnam. But in…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Dear Colleagues, Guide my feet Lord, while I run this race. Guide my feet Lord, while I run this race. Guide my feet Lord, while I run this race. ’cause I don’t want…

 by SpearIt 9/11 is the critical date in American Muslim history, and it may become increasingly important for Latinos as well. The word “critical” as used here aims to convey a sense of “crisis.” Arguably, the highpoint of crisis in modern Muslim history was the assassination of Malcolm X in…

The 2014 Biennial SALT Teaching Conference and SALT / LatCrit Faculty Development Workshop Successfully Wrapped Up in Las Vegas Click here for Participants and Workshops in the SALT LatCrit FDW and Teaching Conference Program OCT 9-11 Information from Presentations and Handouts  Participants and presenters in the…

 By Sahar Aziz The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has captured international attention as the world witnesses in horror its brutality. Notwithstanding that most of ISIL’s victims are Muslim, its atrocities are reinforcing false stereotypes that something is inherently violent about Islam. As a…

By Marjorie Cohn Last summer, Tariq Khdeir, a 15-year-old American citizen from Baltimore, accompanied his parents to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat for a six-week visit with relatives. The first friend Tariq made when he arrived was his cousin, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, whom Tariq had not seen since…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Prodessor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Dear Colleagues, (Update sent to the Volokh Conspiracy, Lawfareblog, Just Security, Opiniojuris.org, Jurist.org, and War is a Crime.org – Volokh declined as they do not generally put these things up. So made a comment there and at…

By Olympia Duhart As the American Bar Association considers lifting the ban on paid externships, a simple truth bears repeating: Money changes everything. Under the current standards, law students cannot be compensated for work they do for school credit. This policy should remain in place because separating compensation and…

By Marjorie Cohn President Barack Obama escalated the drone war he has conducted for the past five and a half years by declaring his intention to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, or ISIL. Since August 8, Obama has mounted at least 154 airstrikes in…

By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law With Cheney – key architect of the torture – speaking yesterday about Obama recognizing the ” pacific role of American power” and President Obama laying out the plans for addressing the problem of ISIS a couple of conversations…

 By Marjorie Cohn Three weeks after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published a report detailing how the United States has failed to fulfill its legal obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Leaving the dead body shot by the police of an unarmed young black man (in this case Michael Brown)  for four hours in the middle of the street in a former sundown town in a border state is an old…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Just watched Evan Kohlmann and Michael O’Hanlon on Hardball discussing the latest awful murderous thing that ISIS has done. They were fanning the flames of war. Here is the way it looks from Toledo. Russia is asserting…

 By Marjorie Cohn The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Center for Constitutional Rights, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Arab Lawyers Union, and American Association of Jurists (Asociacion Americana de Juristas) sent a letter [https://www.nlg.org/sites/default/files/Letter%20to%20ICC%20Prosecutor%20Gaza%20FINAL.pdf] on Friday, August 22 to Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC),…

SALT is proud to announce Professor Margaret Kwoka (University of Denver) as the winner of the 2014 Junior Faculty Teaching Award.  Among the twelve nominees, Professor Kwoka demonstrated an ongoing commitment to involving social justice themes in her teaching.  She has consistently embodied the mission of SALT through her teaching…