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50 Tex. Int'l L. J. 659 (2015-2016)
Setting the Agenda for Thirty Years of U.S. Foreign Relations Law

handle is hein.journals/tilj50 and id is 701 raw text is: Introduction: Setting the Agenda for Thirty Years of U.S. Foreign Relations Law Derek Jinks* In Civil Remedies for Uncivil Wrongs: Combating Terrorism through Transnational Public Law Litigation, Harold Hongju Koh first articulates his agenda- setting approach to the role of domestic courts in the development and enforcement of international law. Koh is, of course, a towering figure in U.S. and international law. He is the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, where he has also served as the Dean. He was the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. And he served as the Legal Advisor of the U.S. Department of State in the Obama administration. Given that Koh has been such a central figure in the academy, government, and human rights litigation and advocacy over the last thirty years, his early writings on transnational litigation-particularly in the context of terrorism-should interest all those interested in international law, U.S. foreign relations law, and national security law. Koh's work combines comprehensive, detailed doctrinal analysis; rigorous theorizing about how law, norms, and institutions function; and an unwavering commitment to the rule of law. All of this is on display in this piece. Indeed, the Article, surely one of the most influential in the distinguished history of the Texas International Law Journal, envisioned and framed many of the most important debates of the last generation in these fields. More specifically, Koh argues for what he calls transnational public law litigation as an important tool in the fight against terrorism. In short, he makes the case for suits brought in U.S. courts by individual and governmental litigants challenging terrorism as a violation of international law. The most important example, perhaps, is international human rights suits brought by aliens against foreign and U.S. governments and officials under the Alien Tort Statute. This litigation strategy, Koh argues, promotes public rights and values through judicial remedies in multiple ways. In this way, transnational public law litigation combines the traditional model of domestic public law litigation with the traditional approach to international litigation. This litigation not only seeks to obtain compensation and redress for individual victims, but also seeks to activate domestic courts, and ultimately other political actors, to articulate norms of transnational law. These norms might, in turn, be deployed in other judicial and political fora to promote public rights and values. The focus of the piece, of course, is how U.S courts might be mobilized in this way to combat international terrorism. In making his case, Koh masterfully identifies and addresses * Marrs McLean Professor in Law, University of Texas School of Law. 659

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