Analyzing A Leaked NGO EMail on the UN ATT

How Liberal Anti-Gun Activists View the American Constitution, Foxnews.com, July 8, 2013. "Last month, the House of Representatives unanimously adopted an amendment to the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit funding for the implementation of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) for one year. The Obama administration says it will sign the ATT soon. The House amendment was vigorously opposed by a group of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) led by Oxfam America, and including Amnesty International, the Arms Control Association, and the National Association of Evangelicals."

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."

The Administration Is Wrong: ATT's Criteria Are Not Ours

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty’s Criteria for Transfers Pose Problems for the U.S., Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2706, July 9, 2012. "The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is being negotiated in July. The framework on which the ATT is likely to be based is clear: it will set out criteria that signatories must apply to proposed arms transfers, and require them to decide if the proposed transfer poses a risk under any of the criteria. This approach is troubling in part because the criteria are likely to be ill-defined. It is also troubling because the ATT’s ‘checklist’ model differs fundamentally from the ‘guidance’ model the U.S. currently employs. Worst of all, though, is the fact that the ATT will enumerate criteria that will be easy to expand in ways that the U.S. cannot control. If the ATT is to exist, it should be based on a commitment by willing and democratic signatories to develop effective systems of border and export control."

A Classic Aspirational Treaty

The Risks the Arms Trade Treaty Poses to the Sovereignty of the United States, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3622, June 4, 2012. "The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will be negotiated in July in New York. One reason to be concerned about the ATT is the risks it poses to U.S. sovereignty. Some of these risks are specific to the ATT, but the fundamental problem with the ATT is that it is an aspirational treaty and, as such, will impose constraints on the U.S. that will not in practice affect the dictatorial regimes at which the treaty is nominally aimed."

VIDEO: U.S. Landmine Policy: Status and Prospects

U.S. Landmine Policy: Status and Prospects, lecture given to Center for Security Policy's National Security Lunch, February 25, 2011.

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."

Reforming the Treaty Process

If We Care About American Exceptionalism, It’s Time to Reform Our Treaty Processes, Conservative Home USA, January 19, 2010. "As an exceptional nation that values its sovereignty, the United States has much to gain from the practice of responsible diplomacy. After all, diplomacy was invented to allow sovereign states to interact and negotiate. Unfortunately, responsible diplomacy is at risk."

Example #7: Why the U.N.'s Arms Trade Treaty Is a Bad Idea

In Pursuit of Arms Trade Treaty, Slogans Substitute for Sanity, Heritage Foundation Foundry, May 28, 2010. "Amnesty International has a new slogan designed to drum up support for the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty: it’s calling on its supporters to demand a “bullet-proof” treaty. That’s cute. Unfortunately, what’s cute is not necessarily good policy, as Amnesty’s slogan illustrates all too clearly."

Beinart, Pollak, and Liberal Nationalism

Re: Peter Beinart and the Destruction of Liberal Zionism, Contentions, May 27, 2010. "Noah Pollak’s superb piece on Beinart prompts, first, my regret that I left Yale just before he arrived, so I can’t claim to have taught him anything. But it, along with Benjamin Kerstein’s essay on “Liberalism and Zionism,” prompts a further reflection. Both Noah and Ben argue that Beinart exemplifies the vacuity of liberalism. As Noah puts it, “Because the history of the peace process repudiates so many of liberalism’s most cherished premises, liberalism is increasingly repudiating Israel. . . . In this way, the failure of the liberal vision is transformed from being a verdict on liberalism to being a verdict on Israel.” True. But it is both more and less than that."

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."

Why Judge Sotomayor's Disclaimer Doesn't Mean What It Seems

Judge Sotomayor on Foreign and International Law, Contentions, July 16, 2009. "Yesterday, in response to a question from Sen. Coburn (R-OK) asking whether there is no authority for a Supreme Court justice to utilize foreign law in terms of making decisions based on the Constitution or statutes, Judge Sotomayor gave what appeared to be an unambiguous answer."

What's An Ambassadorial Post Worth?

Ambassadorial Posts to Covet – And One to Avoid, Contentions, June 26, 2009.

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.

When Lawyers Run The World

The European Convention on Human Rights Handcuffs Britain's Armed Forces, Heritage Foundation Foundry, May 19, 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.