Curt Bradley's Book Lecture: International Law in the U.S. Legal System
Thursday, February 28
12:15-1:15 pm | Room 3043
Duke Law School
Join Professor Bradley as he discusses his newly released book, "International Law in the U.S. Legal System." The lecture is co-sponsored by the Center for Law, Ethics and National Security and the Center for International and Comparative Law. Lunch will be served. For more information, please contact Ali Prince.
Abstract
"International Law in the U.S. Legal System" explores the dynamic intersection between international law and the domestic legal system within the United States and covers both settled principles as well as unresolved issues and areas of controversy. Professor Bradley considers all of the principal forms of international law: treaties, decisions and orders of international institutions, customary international law, and jus cogens norms. He also explores a number of specific topics that are implicated by the intersection of U.S. law and international law, such as foreign sovereign immunity, international human rights litigation, extradition, war powers, and extraterritoriality. As he explains, international law plays an important and sometimes under-appreciated role in the U.S. legal system, but its domestic application is mediated by a variety of structural considerations, including federalism and the separation of powers. This book highlights recent decisions and events relating to the topic (including decisions and events arising out of the war on terrorism), while also taking into account relevant historical materials, including materials relating to the U.S. constitutional founding. The book is designed to be accessible to a wide range of lawyers, judges, law students, and policymakers, both inside and outside the United States.
Biography
Curt Bradley is the William Van Alstyne Professor of Law, Professor of Public Policy Studies, and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Duke Law School. He joined the Duke law faculty in 2005, after teaching at the University of Virginia and University of Colorado law schools.
Professor Bradley has been named one of eight reporters for the American Law Institute's Restatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States, a major reference work used by lawyers, scholars, and judges in assessing the state of foreign relations law and international law in the United States. He is also a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on International Law. He is also a Vice-President of the American Society of International Law, a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law, and a member of the International Law Association's Study Group on the Principles on the Application of International Law by Domestic Courts.
Professor Bradley has written numerous articles concerning international law, U.S. foreign relations law, and constitutional law, including articles published in the Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Duke, and Georgetown law journals. He is currently working on a new book (with Trevor Morrison), tentatively entitled History's Constitution: How Governmental Practices Define the Separation of Powers.