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86 Wash. U. L. Rev. 769 (2008-2009)
Double Jeopardy and Multiple Sovereigns: A Jurisdictional Theory

handle is hein.journals/walq86 and id is 777 raw text is: Washington University
Law Review
VOLUME 86                       NUMBER 4                             2009
DOUBLE JEOPARDY AND MULTIPLE
SOVEREIGNS: A JURISDICTIONAL THEORY
ANTHONY J. COLANGELO
ABSTRACT
This Article offers a coherent way of thinking about double jeopardy
rules among sovereigns. Its theory has strong explanatory power for
current double jeopardy law and practice in both U.S. federal and
international legal systems, recommends adjustments to double jeopardy
doctrine in both systems, and sharpens normative assessment of that
doctrine.
The Article develops a jurisdictional theory of double jeopardy under
which sovereignty signifies independent jurisdiction to make and apply
law. Using this theory, the Article recasts the history of the U.S. Supreme
Court's dual sovereignty doctrine entirely in terms of jurisdiction,
penetrating the opacity of the term sovereign as it is often deployed by
the Court and supplying a useful analytical predictor for future extension
of the doctrine. The Article then applies the theory to the international
legal system to explain the confused and seemingly dissonant body of
modern international law and practice on double jeopardy, including the
* Assistant Professor of Law, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law. I would
like to thank Harold Hongju Koh for his comments at the 2008 Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum, as
well as the forum participants. I also thank Jose Alvarez, George Bermann, Harlan Cohen, Caroline
Mala Corbin, Evan Criddle, Julian Ku, Debra Livingston, Michael O'Hear, Robert D. Sloane, Beth
Thornburg and Jenia Iontcheva Turner for their comments on previous drafts. I am grateful to Bill
Bridge, Jeffrey Kahn, Leila Nadya Sadat and Rose Cuison Villazor for helpful conversations, and to
audiences at the Law, Culture and Humanities Conference at Boalt Hall, SMU Law School, and
Marquette Law School. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Kristina Kiik for outstanding research
and editing assistance. As always, special thanks go to my wife, Carrie Rief.

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