Letters Blogatory

The Blog of International Judicial Assistance
By Ted Folkman

Month: July 2018

  • The Jewish Nation State Bill Passes

    The Knesset has passed the Jewish nation state bill after long debate. I wrote about an earlier iteration of the bill in 2014, and I am re-upping my post in light of the news. My basic view is the same as it was then: in light of the practices of neighboring states, there seems to…

  • Case of the Day: Grupo Unidos Por El Canal v. Autoridad del Canal de Panama

    The case of the day is Grupo Unidos Por El Canal S.A. v. Autoridad del Canal de Panama (S.D. Fla. 2018). As you may have guessed, it’s a case about a construction project at the Panama Canal. The parties engaged in an ICC arbitration in Miami, which resulted in an award of damages of $22…

  • Impeach Trump

    Impeach Trump

    In late 2016, after the election, there was a movement seeking to persuade the electoral college to elect someone other than Mr. Trump president. I had already been arguing here for a long time that Donald Trump was unfit to be president and that he posed a danger to our country. It wasn’t just that…

  • Case of the Day: EIG Energy Fund v. Petroleo Brasileiro

    The case of the day is EIG Energy Fund XIV, LP v. Petroleo Brasileiro, S.A. (D.C. Cir. 2018). The case arose out of the Petrobras scandal in Brazil, in which Petrobras, the state oil company, allegedly defrauded EIG and other investors who sank millions into a major oil extraction project off the Brazilian coast, only…

  • Case of the Day: Kiobel v. Cravath, Swaine & Moore

    The case of the day is Kiobel v. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (2d Cir. 2018). You’ll no doubt recall the name Kiobel from Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 133 S. Ct. 1659 (2013), the case in which the Supreme Court held that the ordinary presumption against extraterritorial application of US laws applies to…