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42 Harv. Int'l L. J. 15 (2001)
Holding America to Its Own Best Standards: Abe Chayes and Nicaragua in the World Court

handle is hein.journals/hilj42 and id is 21 raw text is: Holding America to Its Own Best Standards: Abe Chayes and Nicaragua in the World Court Paul S. Reichler* To the innumerable inquiries about why he was representing the Sandinista- led government of Nicaragua in its World Court lawsuit against the Rea- ganista-led government of the United States, Professor Abram Chayes- Abe-always gave the same answer: To hold America to its own best standards. To Abe, America's best standards included: respect for the rule of law; commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes; tolerance of a broad range of political and philosophical opinion; sympathy for the victims of oppression and injustice; and vocation for truth in public discourse. Abe believed deeply that Ronald Reagan, Oliver North, William Casey, Elliot Abrams, and company trashed these sacred values-the very ones that made America the greatest nation in the world as well as the most power- ful-in their obsessive and no-holds-barred crusade to destroy the Sandini- sta Revolution, which posed no threat to America's strategic interests or well-being. To Abe, the lawsuit was much more than a defense of Nicaragua's univer- sally recognized rights as a sovereign state: political independence; territo- rial sovereignty; and freedom from foreign intervention in its internal affairs. It was, above all, a challenge to the powerful in Washington to act in accor- dance with the noble principles that this country espouses and that set it apart from the rest of the world. Abe was much more than a brilliant international lawyer. He was a master public policy strategist as well. His determination to hold America to its own best standards was not an exercise in romantic idealism. To the con- trary, it was a shrewd, practical, and ultimately successful strategy for end- ing U.S. military and paramilitary operations against Nicaragua, cutting off the supply of lethal aid to the counterrevolutionary forces the United * Partner, Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP, Washington, D.C. This is the first article written by a member of Nicaragua's World Court legal team about the origins of the case, its political context and objectives, the strategies pursued, and the impact of Nicaragua's victory on its decade-long confrontation with the United States. It was the author's great privilege to serve as co-counsel with Professor Abram Chayes.

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