I Started a Law Blog and Then …
I started this blog during a sabbatical, with the idea that it could be a place to quickly process responses to rapidly unfolding legal developments, in my native United States and also in Canada, my current home. I have a vague recollection of promisi...
Read more
‘Of Mice (or Frogs?) and Men’: The Courage and Inspiration Behind Peaceful Protest
My famous last words, as I began this blog, were that I would post weekly. Those words have quickly been replaced with a promise to post when I can. I have been pulled away with other professional commitments, and it is never a great idea to commit to ...
Read more
The Road to Impunity
I am teaching International Criminal Law this coming Fall. Central to the notion of that field is the idea of impunity, or, to cite the Rome Statute, ending impunity for humanity’s worst crimes, with a partial goal of preventing such future crimes. It ...
Read more
The “Right Side of History” and “No Kings”
We live in strange times. We live in a time when it can be intimidating to speak out against governmental abuses, because of the potential repercussions or false accusations as to what that critique means. In some ways, these times remind me of the ear...
Read more
“They Spit, We Hit”: The Los Angeles Protests, Militarization of Law Enforcement, and a Potential Clash with the Constitution
Protests in Los Angeles Showed a Familiar Pattern of Militarized Police and a False Narrative of Widespread Violence to Justify Dubious Legal Responses to Protests This past Saturday, I watched, from Canada, livestreams of some of the protests in Los...
Read more
His Name Was Koko
This post is a bit different from my usual posts, but one area of the law that has always interested me is animal law. I know amazing people who work in this area, and I am a long-time animal person, with a history of being involved in rescues. I have ...
Read more
The “In-Between” and Travel to the United States
I have recently made a decision not to travel to the U.S. for a planned work commitment. I have three main reasons for that hesitation, as discussed below. The In-Between Is a Big Place Under the Current U.S. Administration My first reason for bein...
Read more
“The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is …” the President Himself
A Growing Imposition of Fear In 1933, as the United States was in the grip of the Great Depression, newly inaugurated President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made a famous speech. Addressing the people of the U.S., he told them: “So, first of all, ...
Read more
“SOS” for the Rule of Law?
The Constitution Is Apparently Inconvenient for the U.S. Government This blog was never intended to focus so heavily on migration, but recent events relating to the Rule of Law in the U.S. have brought the plight of specific migrants into the spotlig...
Read more
What Does This Have To Do With Canada?
In my posts thus far, I have focused quite heavily on legal developments in the U.S. That may seem strange from a Canadian academic. I talked about this a bit in my introductory post, but I am an American lawyer and a Canadian law professor. I have r...
Read more
Stop Calling Them “Deportations,” and Of Course They are “Innocent” Until Proven Guilty, and, Even If Proven So, You Can’t Send Them to a Torture Prison Overseas
Descriptive Terms Have Power in Human-Rights Narratives Not for the first time, in watching developments in my native U.S., I am struck by similarities between governmental actions after the 9/11 attacks and actions by the current U.S. Government. I ...
Read more
“A Picture Paints a Thousand Words:” Free Speech, Immigration, and the Power of Images in Political and Legal Narratives in the United States
A Snapshot of Quickly Moving Events One hallmark of the current chaotic situation in the U.S. is that events are developing at lightning speed. Much commentary is written about them as they happen, but it can be difficult at times to comment on them ...
Read more
False Narratives of “Alien Invasions” in the United States
The Rapid Deterioration of Treatment of Migrants In my last post, I promised to discuss the current state of separation of powers in the United States (“U.S.”), focusing on some issues in Congress after discussing the role of the Courts. The fast-m...
Read more
The U.S. Narrative of “Kings” and the Role of the U.S. Courts in Limiting Executive Actions
By Professor Maureen Duffy "Who controls the past … controls the future: who controls the present controls the past … ‘Reality control’ they called it … ‘doublethink’." -- George Orwell, 1984. Storytelling in Law and Politics It can be diffi...
Read more
In Memory of a Friend and Mentor: A Tribute to Linda McKay-Panos and a Dedication for This New Law Blog
By Professor Maureen Duffy In November 2024, on a sunny Sunday, my world became darker with the news that my dear friend and colleague, Linda McKay-Panos, had died suddenly. I remain devastated. It is now March 2025, and beautiful tributes have bee...
Read more
Law Crossing Borders
By: Professor Maureen Duffy I suspect that the most stressful part of starting a new blog is to think of a name for that blog. Or is that just me? I started this project a while ago, before it became buried in the inevitable busy aspects of academi...
Read more