International Law

Professor Katerina Linos discusses the role social media and smugglers play in migrants dangerous journeys.

American presidents have broad discretion to deploy U.S. forces abroad, but Trump’s asserted blockade marks a new test of presidential authority, said international law scholar Elena Chachko of UC Berkeley Law School.

Blockades have traditionally been treated as permissible “instruments of war,” but only under strict conditions, Chachko said. “There are serious questions on both the domestic law front and international law front,” she added.

As multilateral cooperation is increasingly under attack, Professor Katerina Linos challenges certain misperceptions about the role of international institutions, particularly the European Union, and emphasizes their capacity for action in times of multiple crises.

Professor Katerina Linos of UC Berkeley Law and Mark Pollack of Temple University discuss their project to interview the judges of the EU’s primary court system, and the implications for European integration, international law, and our understanding of how international judges behave.

Professor Katerina Linos weighs in on potential legal challenges to President Trump’s travel ban affecting 12 countries.

Assistant Professor Elena Chachko provides analysis of President Trump’s executive orders imposing tariffs and eliminating the de minimus exception for products from China.

“Many people active in open source reporting will be playing close attention to whether the BBC succeeds,” said Alexa Koenig, executive director of the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley’s law school. 

“Many of us are watching to see how visual and other forms of digital evidence become useful or are challenged, what the judges think,” said Alexa Koenig, a co-director of the University of California, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and a leading expert on the use of emerging technologies in human rights practice.

“Where we are right now is that we, based on the work that the students did over the course of this semester, have been able to apply for asylum for these clients, but we’re waiting for USCIS to schedule their interviews,” said Kyra Lilien, the practicum’s instructor. “Now we wait.”

Human Rights Center Executive Director Alexa Koenig discusses the growing use of open source intelligence (OSINT) as a way to document international atrocities and bolster human rights prosecutions.