Ineffective, Opaque, and Undemocratic: The IOUs of—Too Much—International Law and Why a Bit of Skepticism Is Warranted

In this Article I want to give you an outsider’s view of international law, or at least this outsider’s view. And by outsider I mean someone who is usually interested in legal philosophy and constitutional law and who may well be thought to lack standing to offer the sort of views and criticisms that are to come.... The structure of this Article will be simple. I will criticize certain aspects of international law, especially rights-related international law, under the three headings you see in the title to this Article.

However, I am going to take those headings and critiques in reverse order to lead with my best foot forward. Yet first, as an entrée into those three headings and my overall claims in this Article, I will lay out a short case study.