Why U.S. support for international law is so inconsistent

International Law in the U.S. Legal System provides a wide-ranging overview of how international law intersects with the domestic legal system of the United States, and points out various unresolved issues and areas of controversy. Curtis Bradley explains the structure of the U.S. legal system and the various separation of powers and federalism considerations implicated by this structure, especially as these considerations relate to the conduct of foreign affairs. Against this backdrop, he covers all of the principal forms of international law: treaties, executive agreements, decisions and orders of international institutions, customary international law, and jus cogens norms. He also explores a number of issues that are implicated by the intersection of U.S. law and international law, such as treaty withdrawal, foreign sovereign immunity, international human rights litigation, war powers, extradition, and extraterritoriality. This book highlights recent decisions and events relating to the topic, including various actions taken during the Trump administration, while also taking into account relevant historical materials, including materials relating to the U.S. Constitutional founding. Written by one of the most cited international law scholars in the United States, the book is a resource for lawyers, law students, legal scholars, and judges from around the world.

Covers the entire range of the history of U.S. foreign relations from the colonial period to the beginning of the 21st century. A Companion to U.S. Foreign Relations is an authoritative guide to past and present scholarship on the history of American diplomacy and foreign relations from its seventeenth century origins to the modern day. This two-volume reference work presents a collection of historiographical essays by prominent scholars. The essays explore three centuries of America’s global interactions and the ways U.S. foreign policies have been analyzed and interpreted over time. Scholars offer fresh perspectives on the history of U.S. foreign relations; analyze the causes, influences, and consequences of major foreign policy decisions; and address contemporary debates surrounding the practice of American power. The Companion covers a wide variety of methodologies, integrating political, military, economic, social and cultural history to explore the ideas and events that shaped U.S. diplomacy and foreign relations and continue to influence national identity. The essays discuss topics such as the links between U.S. foreign relations and the study of ideology, race, gender, and religion; Native American history, expansion, and imperialism; industrialization and modernization; domestic and international politics; and the United States’ role in decolonization, globalization, and the Cold War. A comprehensive approach to understanding the history, influences, and drivers of U.S. foreign relation, this indispensable resource: Examines significant foreign policy events and their subsequent interpretations Places key figures and policies in their historical, national, and international contexts Provides background on recent and current debates in U.S. foreign policy Explores the historiography and primary sources for each topic Covers the development of diverse themes and methodologies in histories of U.S. foreign policy Offering scholars, teachers, and students unmatched chronological breadth and analytical depth, A Companion to U.S. Foreign Relations: Colonial Era to the Present is an important contribution to scholarship on the history of America’s interactions with the world.

A must reference for the practitioner, judge, student, and serious scholar, this revised and updated work provides a thorough and readable text on various types and possibilities of incorporation of international law into our domestic legal processes. The second edition has retained and updated the first six chapters from the first edition and contains the most detailed exposition to date of cases, patterns of use, and trends concerning traditional topics such as customary international law and its incorporation into U.S. law; self-executing treaties and direct and indirect legal effects of treaties; the last-in-time rule and exceptions thereto; priorities among generally coequal laws of the land; presidential powers and duties; remedies or civil and criminal sanctions; and use of human right precepts throughout U.S. history (including attention to actual types of human rights utilized, the right of access to courts, and the right to an effective remedy). Chapters on human rights and the ninth amendment; jurisdiction and enforcement responsibilities with respect to international criminal law; and the peace power have also been retained and updated, while portions of other chapters have been shifted to other sections of the treatise or deleted. The comprehensive and highly useful index has been retained. The treatise is unique in terms of areas of coverage and its attention to detail, including heavily documented research into literally thousands of U.S. cases. "Professor Paust's new book is not only well-written, but it also contains a rich vein of resources that may be worked for profit by teacher, student, researcher, and practitioner." -- American Society of International Law Newsletter, on the first edition "Superlative. The idea is original, the execution exhaustive and the impact, simply overwhelming." -- W.M. Weisman, Wesley N. Hohfeld Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School, on the first edition "This is an excellent work for scholarly law libraries...[and] for small- to mid-sized law libraries and academic libraries that emphasize American law and history." -- Legal Information ALERT "Paust's work reflects a vigorous defense of the cause of international law... [It] reflects an impressive mosaic of the author's views that will undoubtedly continue to spark controversy and debate within our community." -- The American Journal of International Law

This survey draws upon the statements and actions of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government. Topics include diplomatic and consular relations, jurisdiction and immunities, state responsibility and liability, international organizations, international economic law and human rights. Containing extracts from hard-to-find documents, generous citations to relevant sources, tables of cases and treaties, and a detailed index, this essential tool for researchers and practitioners is the first in a series of similar volumes.

International Law is both an introduction to the subject and a critical consideration of its central themes and debates. The opening chapters of the book explain how international law underpins the international political and economic system by establishing the basic principle of the independence of States, and their right to choose their own political, economic, and cultural systems. Subsequent chapters then focus on considerations that limit national freedom of choice (e.g. human rights, the interconnected global economy, the environment). Through the organizing concepts of territory, sovereignty, and jurisdiction the book shows how international law seeks to achieve an established set of principles according to which the power to make and enforce policies is distributed among States.