Digest of United States Practice in International Law: 2009

Co-published by Oxford University Press and the International Law Institute, and prepared by the Office of the Legal Adviser at the Department of State, the Digest of United States Practice in International Law presents an annual compilation of documents and commentary highlighting significant developments in public and private international law, and is an invaluable resource for practitioners and scholars in the field.

Each edition compiles excerpts from documents such as treaties, diplomatic notes and correspondence, legal opinion letters, judicial decisions, Senate committee reports and press releases. Each document is selected by members of the Legal Adviser's Office of the U.S. Department of State, based on their judgments about the significance of the issues, their potential relevance to future situations, and their likely interest to scholars and practitioners. In almost every case, the commentary to each excerpt is accompanied by a citation to the full text.

Featured in the 2009 Digest are excerpts from and discussion of numerous documents relating to issues of current interest, including the following:

* Final Rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services eliminating ban on people with HIV from entering the United States, 74 Fed. Reg. 56,547 (Nov. 2, 2009) (Chapter 1, Nationality, Citizenship, and Immigration)
* U.S. federal court decisions involving First Amendment challenges to district court decisions upholding denials of visas to individuals accused of having contributed funds to terrorist organizations (e.g., the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a district court's decision upholding the denial of a visa to Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan (American Academy v. Napolitano, 573 F.3d 115 (2d Cir. 2009)) (Chapter 1, Nationality, Citizenship, and Immigration)
* U.S. motion to dismiss petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by a Mexican national who claimed that he would be tortured if extradited to Mexico to face homicide charges (Saldana v. United States, No. 2:09-cv-02786-JPM-cgc (W.D. Tenn. 2009)) (Chapter 3, International Criminal Law)
* Eleventh Circuit affirmation of district court's 2008 decision denying writ of habeas corpus to former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to prevent his extradition to France (Noriega v. Pastrana, 564 F.3d 1290 (11th Cir. 2009)) (Chapter 3, International Criminal Law)
* U.S. grant of two petitions for certiorari in a case challenging constitutionality of the provisions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, that make it a criminal offense for any person within the United States or subject to U.S. jurisdiction "knowingly" to provide "material support or resources" to a designated foreign terrorist organization ("FTO") (Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 130 S. Ct. 534 (2009); Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder, 130 S. Ct. 534 (2009)) (Chapter 3, International Criminal Law)
* Statement of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about the "Human Rights Agenda for the 21st Century" (Georgetown University, December 14, 2009) (Chapter 6, Human Rights)
* U.S. statements to the UN Human Rights Council relating to the Gaza conflict and the report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the "Goldstone Report") (Chapter 6, Human Rights)
* Statement of President Barack H. Obama and memorandum to the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development on the rescission of the "Mexico City Policy," which had directed USAID to withhold USAID funds from any nongovernmental organization using non-USAID funds to engage in activities relating to abortion (Chapter 6, Human Rights)
* Letter of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Senator Jeanne Shaheen outlining U.S. initiatives to end the use of rape and sexual violence in conflict zones, particularly in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, accompanied by the proposed "Strategic Plan for Combating Violence Against Women in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)," and Statement of Secretary of State Clinton to the UN Security Council regarding U.S.-led Resolution concerning sexual violence in situations of armed conflict (Chapter 6, Human Rights)
* Statement of Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett on the views of the U.S. towards the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (signed by the U.S. on July 30, 2009) (Chapter 6, Human Rights)
* Statement of Harold Hongju Koh, Department of State Legal Adviser, to the International Court of Justice, discussing whether the "unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo [is] in accordance with international law" (Chapter 9, Diplomatic Relations, Succession, and Continuity of States)
* U.S. federal court decisions relating to actions brought under sovereign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, including actions against the Holy See, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Chapter 10, Foreign Sovereign Immunity)
* Diplomatic note indicating change in policy of the Department of State to extend the "definition of 'family' forming part of the household of a diplomatic agent [to] include same-sex domestic partners ('domestic partners') for purposes of the application of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in the United States" (74 Fed. Reg. 36,112 (July 22, 2009)) (Chapter 10, Foreign Sovereign Immunity)
* The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's 2009 Special 301 Report to identify those foreign countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons that rely upon intellectual property protection (Chapter 11, Trade, Commercial Relations, Investment, and Transportation)
* Statement of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia ("CGPCS"), hosted by the United States at UN Headquarters in New York (Chapter 12, Territorial Regimes and Related Issues)
* President Barack H. Obama's December 18, 2009, press briefing relating to the "Copenhagen Accord," reached by the major world economies at the Fifteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Chapter 13, Environment and Other Transnational Scientific Issues)
* Testimony of Keith Loken, Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law, Department of State, in support of the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (which was signed by the United States but awaits Senate approval) (Chapter 15, Private International Law)
* Various documents relating to the U.S. position on the imposition or retention of sanctions against or the curtailment of assistance to countries including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Burma, Madagascar, and Honduras (Chapter 16, Sanctions)
* Memorandum of President Barack H. Obama to the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce instructing them to take certain actions to implement a new policy to promote democracy and human rights in Cuba, including "facilitating greater contact between separated family members in the United States and Cuba and increasing the flow of remittances and information to the Cuban people" (Chapter 16, Sanctions)
* U.S. positions on the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the resolution of the North-South conflict in Sudan, as well as U.S. positions on peacekeeping in Georgia, Kosovo, Lebanon, and Somalia (Chapter 17, International Conflict Resolution and Avoidance)
* Excerpts from Executive Order 13491, "Ensuring Lawful Interrogations," 74 Fed. Reg. 4893 (Jan. 27, 2009), which was intended "to improve the effectiveness of human intelligence-gathering, to promote the safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals in United States custody and of United States personnel who are detained in armed conflicts, to ensure compliance with the treaty obligations of the United States, including the Geneva Conventions, and to take care that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed" (Chapter 18, Use of Force, Arms Control and Disarmament, and Nonproliferation)
* Excerpts from Executive Order 13492, "Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained At the Guant?namo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities," 74 Fed. Reg. 4897 (Jan. 27, 2009) (Chapter 18, Use of Force, Arms Control and Disarmament, and Nonproliferation)
* Other U.S. positions relating to treatment of detainees upon release, as well as U.S. federal court decisions relating to habeas litigation involving current detainees held at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan and civil suits involving former Guantanamo detainees (Chapter 18, Use of Force, Arms Control and Disarmament, and Nonproliferation)

Elizabeth Wilcox works in the office of the legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State.