International Law in the U.S. Legal System

Second Edition

Curtis A. Bradley

International Law in the U.S. Legal System decodes the often complicated ways that international law operates within the United States legal system and sheds light on unresolved issues and areas of controversy.
Explores fundamental topics at the intersection of U.S. law and international law, such as foreign sovereign immunity, international human rights litigation, extradition, war powers, and extraterritoriality.
The book covers all of the principal forms of international law including treaties, decisions and orders of international institutions, customary international law, jus cogens norms, and general principles.

New to this Edition:

All of the chapters in the Second Edition have been updated to take account of recent developments.
The Second Edition covers the Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, which substantially curtailed the reach of the Alien Tort Statute
The book covers the Court's 2014 decision in Bond v. United States, which considered the relationship between the treaty power and federalism.
Recent lower court decisions concerning piracy and other international crimes, the immunity of foreign officials in U.S. litigation, and military detention and prosecution in the war on terrorism are also addressed.

International Law in the U.S. Legal System

Second Edition

Curtis A. Bradley

Description

International Law in the U.S. Legal System provides a wide-ranging overview of how international law intersects with the domestic legal system within the United States, and points out various unresolved issues and areas of controversy. Curtis Bradley covers all of the principal forms of international law: treaties, decisions and orders of international institutions, customary international law, and jus cogens norms. He also explores a number of issues that are implicated by the intersection of U.S. law and international law, such as foreign sovereign immunity, international human rights litigation, war powers, extradition, and extraterritoriality. This book highlights recent decisions and events relating to the topic (including decisions and events arising out of the war on terrorism), while also taking into account relevant historical materials, including materials relating to the U.S. Constitutional founding. Written by one of the most cited international law scholars in the United States, the book is a resource for lawyers, law students, legal scholars, and judges from around the world.

International Law in the U.S. Legal System

Second Edition

Curtis A. Bradley

Preface
1. Courts and Foreign Affairs
2. Treaties
3. Executive Agreements
4. Decisions and Orders of International Institution
5. Customary International Law
6. Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Law
7. Alien Tort Statute Litigation
8. Sovereign and Official Immunity
9. Extradition and Other Means of Criminal Law Enforcement
10. War Powers and the War on Terrorism
CONCLUSION
TABLE OF CASES
TABLE OF LEGISLATION
INDEX

International Law in the U.S. Legal System

Second Edition

Curtis A. Bradley

Author Information

Curtis Bradley is the William Van Alstyne Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law in the United States. Professor Bradley has been writing and teaching about international law and its status in the U.S. legal system for twenty years. In addition to publishing numerous scholarly articles in top law journals, he is the co-author of a leading casebook on U.S. foreign relations law. He has also served as the Counselor on International Law in the Legal Adviser's Office of the U.S. State Department and currently is a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on International Law. Professor Bradley is also a Reporter for the American Law Institute's Restatement (Fourth) project on foreign relations law and is a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law.

International Law in the U.S. Legal System

Second Edition

Curtis A. Bradley

Reviews and Awards

"This scrupulously fair and fully researched treatise is destined to be the standard reference for all issues involving the application of international law by U.S. courts." --Paul Stephan, University of Virginia School of Law

"This is an excellent primer on the application of international law in the United States, written by a leading U.S. scholar and former Counselor to the Legal Adviser of the State Department. Professor Bradley's objective discussions of the status of customary international law and the tensions between international law and U.S. constitutional law are especially illuminating." --John B. Bellinger III, Partner, Arnold & Porter, and Former Legal Adviser to the State Department, 2005-2009

"Over the past twenty years, Professor Curt Bradley has generated some of the most perceptive - and at times provocative - commentary on the relationship of international law to U.S. law, often presenting serious challenges to conventional assumptions and orthodoxy. This book synthesizes, integrates, and develops that commentary in a highly-readable and well-documented volume; a must-read for anyone who cares about whether and how one of the most powerful countries in the world internalizes international law." --Sean D. Murphy, Member, U.N. International Law Commission, Professor, George Washington University Law School

"International Law in the U.S. Legal System is admirably lucid, even-handed, and comprehensive--a most impressive accomplishment that encapsulates years of research and reflection. It will have a long shelf life--and deserves a place on the shelves of every international lawyer." --Michael J. Glennon, Professor of International Law, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

"That is a lot of ground to cover in 331 pages, but Bradley manages admirably to explore the contours and current state of play of each topic in a balanced and nonpartisan way. The book is well suited for the uninitiated, and the thorough references in the footnotes to the cases and the secondary literature make the book a good jumping-off point for further research. Good tables of cases and of legislation, and a thorough index, add to the book's utility as a work of reference." -Jonathan Pratter, Law Library Journal

"International Law is much more a clear, expository textbook, written in descriptive mode...Bradley has written an elegant book that prizes clarity in a plain prose style - it's a highly readable volume, suitable not only for lawyers and law professors, but also non-lawyer general readers, undergraduates and graduate students, and academics not in law." -Kenneth Anderson, Lawfare

International Law in the U.S. Legal System

Second Edition

Curtis A. Bradley

From Our Blog

Customary international law's uncertain status in the US Legal System

Customary international law arises from the practices of nations followed out of a sense of legal obligation. Although long an important source of international law, there continues to be debate and uncertainty about customary international law's status in the US legal system.

Posted on May 18, 2015

Read the blog post