Lori Fisler Damrosch
Biographic Data
| ID | 1086183 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lori Fisler Damrosch |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lori Fisler |
| FAMILY NAME | Damrosch |
| SIGNATURE | DAMROSCH L F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Columbia University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 59 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The Trump Administration Reverses U.S. Position on UNRWA Immunities
On April 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice submitted a letter in a civil lawsuit that maintains for the first time that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is not immune from U.S. civil litigation. The letter reverses the position taken by the previous administration in the same lawsuitFootnote 2 and alters nearly eight decades of U.S. practice concerning the immunities of UN entities …
Military Activities in the UNCLOS Compulsory Dispute Settlement System: Implications of the South China Sea Arbitration for U.S. Ratification of UNCLOS
The Award on the Merits in the South China Sea Arbitration between the Philippines and China (Award) is the first decision of any tribunalto interpret the provision of the 1982 United Nations Convention on theLaw of the Sea (Convention or UNCLOS) that allows states parties to exclude disputes concerning military activities from the Convention’s compulsory dispute settlement regime. That optional exclusion, embodied in Article 298(1)(b) of the Con…
The Impact of the Nicaragua Case on the Court and Its Role: Harmful, Helpful, or In Between
At the time the United States withdrew from participation in the Nicaragua case at the International Court of Justice, the US government expressed concern that ‘the course on which the Court may now be embarked could do enormous harm to it as an institution and to the cause of international law’. This essay examines whether or to what extent the anticipated negative effects came to pass. It concludes that dire predictions of harm to the Court wer…
Louis Henkin (1917-2010)
Louis Henkin died in New York City on October 14, 2010, a few weeks short of his ninetythird birthday. He was in a class by himself at the intersection of international law, international politics, and the constitutional law of foreign relations in the second half of the twentieth century and the first years of the new millennium
The “American” and the “International” in the American Journal of International Law
The American Journal of International Law (AJIL) stands in dialectical tension between its American and its international identities. At its founding, and in periodic reassessments on the occasion of anniversaries or changes of leadership, its editors in chief have offered their understandings of the place for this Journal at the intersection of American and international life. One of our predecessors wrote in the Journal’s sixth decade of “a dua…
Oscar Schachter (1915-2003)
Among “jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law” and “most highly qualified publicists of the various nations,” no one in the second half of the twentieth century did more than Oscar Schachter to influence both the theory and the practice of international law, especially the law of the United Nations Charter. When the centennial of the American Society of International Law arrives in two years, we will have occasion to reflect …
The Permanent Five as Enforcers of Controls on Weapons of Mass Destruction: Building on the Iraq 'Precedent
The five permanent members of the Security Council form the core of an enforcement system against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The sanctions regime against Iraq shows commonality of interest among the five declared nuclear-weapons states to block the spread of WMD. This article first establishes the normative framework under which restraint of WMD is not simply a policy preference but a legal obligation rooted in widely-ratified …
The Election of Thomas Buergenthal to the International Court of Justice
For the first time since 1981, a new judge of United States nationality has taken office at the International Court of Justice. As the method for selection of this important judicial post is little known even within the international law profession, a brief note on how that process unfolded in 1999-2000 should be of interest to the Court's constituency
The Justiciability of Paraguay’s Claim of Treaty Violation
The U.S. Government’s position asserting nonjusticiability of the treaty claims raised by Paraguay in the domestic and international lawsuits is disturbing. The Government’s amicus filings at the court of appeals and the Supreme Court denied that Paraguay’s claims belonged in federal court (or indeed in any court at all); at die International Court of Justice, the United States admitted a treaty violation but denied the competence of that tribuna…
The Constitutional Responsibility of Congress for Military Engagements
The U.S.-led military operation in Haiti has unfolded with minimal violence and few casualties so far. That factual proposition—which is necessarily subject to revision—has important ramifications under both U.S. constitutional law and international law. On the constitutional level, the avoidance of hostilities defused what was poised to become a serious confrontation between the President and the Congress. On the international level, doubts in s…
The Collective Enforcement of International Norms Through Economic Sanctions
A recent front-page story in the New York Times —“Study Says Haiti Sanctions Kill Up to a 1,000 Children a Month”—draws attention to a vexing ethical problem: Under what circumstances can it be morally justifiable for the international community to apply economic sanctions that wreak serious hardship on civilians in the target state? Even though follow-up reports suggested that the headline might have to overstated the damage actually attributabl…
Enforcing Restraint: Collective Intervention in Internal Conflicts
Constitutional Control of Military Actions: A Comparative Dimension
Throughout history, decisions to go to war have been made by a handful of individuals in powerful positions. American constitutionalists from James Madison’s day through our own have tried to establish a better system of deciding for war, by shifting the locus of responsibility from one person to a broadly representative group. The Persian Gulf crisis has shown all too vividly what dangers lie in the persistence of processes that put awesome amou…
Covert Operations
As the Constitution begins its third century, the system of congressional oversight of covert action is only in its second decade. In the ancient history of covert action—before the intelligence oversight reforms of the 1970s—Congress did not involve itself in covert operations. After giving the Central Intelligence Agency standing authority to “perform such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the…
Politics Across Borders: Nonintervention and Nonforcible Influence Over Domestic Affairs
It is time for a fresh look at the norm of nonintervention in domestic affairs, as applied to nonforcible efforts to influence another state’s internal politics. The existence of such a norm is widely proclaimed, and it is commonly assumed to be a legal obligation rather than a mere practice of comity or aspirational objective. For governments, scholars and international organs alike, the “rule” against interference in internal politics seems to …
Retaliation or Arbitration—or Both? The 1978 United States-France Aviation Dispute
It began as a very small dispute. Pan American World Airways planned to introduce a service from San Francisco to Paris with a stop in London, using a Boeing 747 aircraft from San Francisco to London and a smaller Boeing 727 aircraft from London to Paris. The change to a smaller plane would have enabled the most efficient and economic use of Pan Am’s fleet. In aviation as in railroad terminology, a change along a route to equipment of a different…
Enforcing Restraint: Collective Intervention in Internal Conflicts
Politics Across Borders: Nonintervention and Nonforcible Influence Over Domestic Affairs
It is time for a fresh look at the norm of nonintervention in domestic affairs, as applied to nonforcible efforts to influence another state’s internal politics. The existence of such a norm is widely proclaimed, and it is commonly assumed to be a legal obligation rather than a mere practice of comity or aspirational objective. For governments, scholars and international organs alike, the “rule” against interference in internal politics seems to …
The Collective Enforcement of International Norms Through Economic Sanctions
A recent front-page story in the New York Times —“Study Says Haiti Sanctions Kill Up to a 1,000 Children a Month”—draws attention to a vexing ethical problem: Under what circumstances can it be morally justifiable for the international community to apply economic sanctions that wreak serious hardship on civilians in the target state? Even though follow-up reports suggested that the headline might have to overstated the damage actually attributabl…
Retaliation or Arbitration—or Both? The 1978 United States-France Aviation Dispute
It began as a very small dispute. Pan American World Airways planned to introduce a service from San Francisco to Paris with a stop in London, using a Boeing 747 aircraft from San Francisco to London and a smaller Boeing 727 aircraft from London to Paris. The change to a smaller plane would have enabled the most efficient and economic use of Pan Am’s fleet. In aviation as in railroad terminology, a change along a route to equipment of a different…
The Election of Thomas Buergenthal to the International Court of Justice
For the first time since 1981, a new judge of United States nationality has taken office at the International Court of Justice. As the method for selection of this important judicial post is little known even within the international law profession, a brief note on how that process unfolded in 1999-2000 should be of interest to the Court's constituency
The “American” and the “International” in the American Journal of International Law
The American Journal of International Law (AJIL) stands in dialectical tension between its American and its international identities. At its founding, and in periodic reassessments on the occasion of anniversaries or changes of leadership, its editors in chief have offered their understandings of the place for this Journal at the intersection of American and international life. One of our predecessors wrote in the Journal’s sixth decade of “a dua…
The Justiciability of Paraguay’s Claim of Treaty Violation
The U.S. Government’s position asserting nonjusticiability of the treaty claims raised by Paraguay in the domestic and international lawsuits is disturbing. The Government’s amicus filings at the court of appeals and the Supreme Court denied that Paraguay’s claims belonged in federal court (or indeed in any court at all); at die International Court of Justice, the United States admitted a treaty violation but denied the competence of that tribuna…
The Constitutional Responsibility of Congress for Military Engagements
The U.S.-led military operation in Haiti has unfolded with minimal violence and few casualties so far. That factual proposition—which is necessarily subject to revision—has important ramifications under both U.S. constitutional law and international law. On the constitutional level, the avoidance of hostilities defused what was poised to become a serious confrontation between the President and the Congress. On the international level, doubts in s…
Retaliation or Arbitration—or Both? The 1978 United States-France Aviation Dispute
It began as a very small dispute. Pan American World Airways planned to introduce a service from San Francisco to Paris with a stop in London, using a Boeing 747 aircraft from San Francisco to London and a smaller Boeing 727 aircraft from London to Paris. The change to a smaller plane would have enabled the most efficient and economic use of Pan Am’s fleet. In aviation as in railroad terminology, a change along a route to equipment of a different…
Covert Operations
As the Constitution begins its third century, the system of congressional oversight of covert action is only in its second decade. In the ancient history of covert action—before the intelligence oversight reforms of the 1970s—Congress did not involve itself in covert operations. After giving the Central Intelligence Agency standing authority to “perform such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the…
Politics Across Borders: Nonintervention and Nonforcible Influence Over Domestic Affairs
It is time for a fresh look at the norm of nonintervention in domestic affairs, as applied to nonforcible efforts to influence another state’s internal politics. The existence of such a norm is widely proclaimed, and it is commonly assumed to be a legal obligation rather than a mere practice of comity or aspirational objective. For governments, scholars and international organs alike, the “rule” against interference in internal politics seems to …
Constitutional Control of Military Actions: A Comparative Dimension
Throughout history, decisions to go to war have been made by a handful of individuals in powerful positions. American constitutionalists from James Madison’s day through our own have tried to establish a better system of deciding for war, by shifting the locus of responsibility from one person to a broadly representative group. The Persian Gulf crisis has shown all too vividly what dangers lie in the persistence of processes that put awesome amou…
Enforcing Restraint: Collective Intervention in Internal Conflicts
The Collective Enforcement of International Norms Through Economic Sanctions
A recent front-page story in the New York Times —“Study Says Haiti Sanctions Kill Up to a 1,000 Children a Month”—draws attention to a vexing ethical problem: Under what circumstances can it be morally justifiable for the international community to apply economic sanctions that wreak serious hardship on civilians in the target state? Even though follow-up reports suggested that the headline might have to overstated the damage actually attributabl…
The Constitutional Responsibility of Congress for Military Engagements
The U.S.-led military operation in Haiti has unfolded with minimal violence and few casualties so far. That factual proposition—which is necessarily subject to revision—has important ramifications under both U.S. constitutional law and international law. On the constitutional level, the avoidance of hostilities defused what was poised to become a serious confrontation between the President and the Congress. On the international level, doubts in s…
The Justiciability of Paraguay’s Claim of Treaty Violation
The U.S. Government’s position asserting nonjusticiability of the treaty claims raised by Paraguay in the domestic and international lawsuits is disturbing. The Government’s amicus filings at the court of appeals and the Supreme Court denied that Paraguay’s claims belonged in federal court (or indeed in any court at all); at die International Court of Justice, the United States admitted a treaty violation but denied the competence of that tribuna…
The Election of Thomas Buergenthal to the International Court of Justice
For the first time since 1981, a new judge of United States nationality has taken office at the International Court of Justice. As the method for selection of this important judicial post is little known even within the international law profession, a brief note on how that process unfolded in 1999-2000 should be of interest to the Court's constituency
The Permanent Five as Enforcers of Controls on Weapons of Mass Destruction: Building on the Iraq 'Precedent
The five permanent members of the Security Council form the core of an enforcement system against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The sanctions regime against Iraq shows commonality of interest among the five declared nuclear-weapons states to block the spread of WMD. This article first establishes the normative framework under which restraint of WMD is not simply a policy preference but a legal obligation rooted in widely-ratified …
Oscar Schachter (1915-2003)
Among “jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law” and “most highly qualified publicists of the various nations,” no one in the second half of the twentieth century did more than Oscar Schachter to influence both the theory and the practice of international law, especially the law of the United Nations Charter. When the centennial of the American Society of International Law arrives in two years, we will have occasion to reflect …
The “American” and the “International” in the American Journal of International Law
The American Journal of International Law (AJIL) stands in dialectical tension between its American and its international identities. At its founding, and in periodic reassessments on the occasion of anniversaries or changes of leadership, its editors in chief have offered their understandings of the place for this Journal at the intersection of American and international life. One of our predecessors wrote in the Journal’s sixth decade of “a dua…
Louis Henkin (1917-2010)
Louis Henkin died in New York City on October 14, 2010, a few weeks short of his ninetythird birthday. He was in a class by himself at the intersection of international law, international politics, and the constitutional law of foreign relations in the second half of the twentieth century and the first years of the new millennium
The Impact of the Nicaragua Case on the Court and Its Role: Harmful, Helpful, or In Between
At the time the United States withdrew from participation in the Nicaragua case at the International Court of Justice, the US government expressed concern that ‘the course on which the Court may now be embarked could do enormous harm to it as an institution and to the cause of international law’. This essay examines whether or to what extent the anticipated negative effects came to pass. It concludes that dire predictions of harm to the Court wer…
Military Activities in the UNCLOS Compulsory Dispute Settlement System: Implications of the South China Sea Arbitration for U.S. Ratification of UNCLOS
The Award on the Merits in the South China Sea Arbitration between the Philippines and China (Award) is the first decision of any tribunalto interpret the provision of the 1982 United Nations Convention on theLaw of the Sea (Convention or UNCLOS) that allows states parties to exclude disputes concerning military activities from the Convention’s compulsory dispute settlement regime. That optional exclusion, embodied in Article 298(1)(b) of the Con…
The Trump Administration Reverses U.S. Position on UNRWA Immunities
On April 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice submitted a letter in a civil lawsuit that maintains for the first time that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is not immune from U.S. civil litigation. The letter reverses the position taken by the previous administration in the same lawsuitFootnote 2 and alters nearly eight decades of U.S. practice concerning the immunities of UN entities …
Political science (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Law (12 works) · International Law and Human Rights (10 works) · Politics (8 works) · International law (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Business (4 works) · International Law and Aviation (4 works) · Jurisdiction (4 works)