A Summary of the Case for Unsigning the ATT

Why the U.S. Must Unsign the Arms Trade Treaty in 2018, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3287, February 22, 2018. "The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is one of a number of treaties that work not through verifiable commitments but by promoting restrictive norms. Over time, as similar treaties have done, the ATT will shape U.S. policymaking, as the undefined standards at its heart evolve and are applied through political pressure, moral suasion, or the actions of the courts. Even by the standards of the Obama Administration, the ATT is a substantive failure, and it lacks congressional support. But for the progressive activists behind the ATT, its inevitable inability to improve the world’s incompetent and malevolent nations is irrelevant. No U.S. action can eliminate the long-term risks posed by the ATT, but the U.S. can and should mitigate them by “unsigning” the treaty."

The Transnationalist Strategy and the First Amendment

Re: WH Asks YouTube to Pull Anti-Islam Video, Contentions, September 19, 2012. "The problem with the White House’s efforts is not just that they are wrong in principle and feeble in practice. It’s not just that it has handed all the agenda-defining power to Islamist radicals, and refused to recognize that the video is an act of political judo against the U.S., and a pretext for violence, not its cause, in the Middle East. It’s not even just that it plays into the Organization of the Islamic Conference’s seemingly-lost campaign for U.N. action against the ‘defamation of religion,’ which the Obama Administration rightly opposed."

How to Solve the Crime Problem: Ban It!

The United Nations Drafts a Law Banning Crime, National Review Online, July 25, 2012. "If the nations of the world wanted higher standards on their arms imports and exports, they could have them today. If they wanted to respect U.N. Security Council sanctions and embargos, they could do so today. But they don’t, and they don’t. In spite of the complexities of drafting a text that satisfies everyone’s hypocrisy, the July conference may end up producing a treaty. But it won’t matter to the people of Syria or Somalia — never mind Iran or North Korea. And it won’t stop the NGOs from blaming the U.S. and, sooner or later, demanding yet another treaty. The only thing it will do is give Harold Koh a bit more to chew on, and add another layer of legal complexity to U.S. commercial interests and foreign and security policy. At the U.N., they call that a good day’s work."

Cohen is Wrong on Drones

Asking the Wrong Questions About Drones, Contentions, September 23, 2011. "The larger problem is not that using drones undermines the confidence of our allies in uniform. It is that drones vastly reduce our ability to fight a counterinsurgency campaign by protecting local populations and collecting intelligence that allows us to prosecute the war more effectively."

America the Exceptional

The Exceptional Battleground: A Controversy, The City, Spring 2011 edition, a publication of Houston Baptist University. "The United States is an exceptional nation. Most Americans would not regard that as a controversial statement. And there is a good reason for that: it is true."

The Pretension to Expertise

A Tiger Mother in a Legal World on Fire, Contentions, January 27, 2011. "I don’t know much about parenting, so I’m not going to comment on the merits of Amy Chua’s much-discussed book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. What strikes me about the uproar is entirely unrelated to her Stakhanovite views on how to raise children: she’s a tenured professor at Yale Law School."

Many (Sensibly) Not All That Enthusiastic About CIFTA

The CIFTA Enthusiasm Gap, Heritage Foundation Foundry, November 1, 2010. "In a “no news is news” story, The Washington Post reports that, in spite of nominal support from President Obama in April 2009, neither Senate Democrats nor the White House is enthusiastic about seeking ratification of the CIFTA treaty. That is good news."

Koh on the Declaration of Independence, Then and Now

A Sidelight on the ICJ’s Kosovo Decision, Commentary, July 23, 2010. "Yesterday, the International Court of Justice, in a nonbinding opinion that resulted from a referral from the UN General Assembly at Serbia’s behest, ruled that Kosovo’s breakaway from Serbia was not illegal because “general international law contains no applicable prohibition on declarations of independence.” Well, that’s a relief. On its merits, the opinion was correct. But this is exactly the kind of fundamentally political question that cannot be settled by the courts – especially not an international court."

The Case Against the U.N.'s Arms Trade Treaty

The U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty: A Dangerous Multilateral Mistake in the Making, co-written with Steven Groves, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2309, August 21, 2009. "The treaty contemplated by the U.N.’s October 2008 arms trade resolution would be a license to almost all states, no matter how irresponsible, to buy and sell arms. It would endanger U.S. arms export control policy, clash with the Constitution, offer a dangerous justification for dictatorial rule, and make it illegal under international law for the U.S. to support freedom fighters abroad."

Koh Denies -- And It Works

At the President’s Suggestion – And Now, At His Command, Contentions, June 25, 2009.

Harold Koh on Feminist Justice

A ‘Distinctly “Feminist Procedure” ’, Contentions, June 23, 2009.

American Exceptionalism - Yes, It's True

American Exceptionalism and Its Enemies, The New Ledger, May 25, 2009.

Now Lend-Lease Was Wrong?

Koh's Goal for the Legal Trade in Arms: Ban It, Heritage Foundation Foundry, May 11, 2009.

On Harold Koh's Pre-Confirmation Answers

Harold Koh’s Terminological Inexactitude, Contentions, April 29, 2009.

Following Harold Koh's Transnationalist Logic

And Then What, Dean Koh?, Heritage Foundation Foundry, April 28, 2009.

Confirmation Questions for Koh

State Department Legal Adviser Nominee Harold Koh: Questions on the Role of International Law in the U.S. Legal System, Heritage Foundation WebMemo #2414, April 27, 2009.

Harold Koh and the Enforcement of Human Rights Treaties, Part 2

Harold Koh and the End of Human Rights, Redux, New Ledger, April 26, 2009.

Harold Koh and the Enforcement of Human Rights Treaties

Harold Koh and the End of Human Rights, New Ledger, April 23, 2009.

Koh on Freedom of Speech

What Happens When the First Amendment Meets Criminalization of Speech?, Heritage Foundation Foundry, April 22, 2009.

Koh on Durban: We Should Have Gone

Harold Koh on the Durban Process, Contentions, April 21, 2009.