Echoes of the Zoning: Confronting Legal Realism in the Arguments for Reparations from the Atlantic Slave Trade and Modern-Day Human Trafficking

This Article is based on the premise that modern day human trafficking, like the transatlantic slave trade, violates jus cogens norms, and thus the practice was and still is a violation of US laws under customary international law. The analysis will examine the laws that were applied to chattel slavery in England and her colonies through the lens of some seminal slavery cases to unearth the tyranny of interpretation in human trafficking reparations and liability claims under the current Supreme Court jurisprudence and the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). The featured cases will reveal that the same philosophies undergirding the jurisprudence of the slave trade still informs the US Supreme Court’s application of liability for human trafficking in the global supply chain

Echoes of the Zoning: Confronting Legal Realism in the Arguments for Reparations from the Atlantic Slave Trade and Modern-Day Human Trafficking

This Article is based on the premise that modern day human trafficking, like the transatlantic slave trade, violates jus cogens norms, and thus the practice was and still is a violation of US laws under customary international law. The analysis will examine the laws that were applied to chattel slavery in England and her colonies through the lens of some seminal slavery cases to unearth the tyranny of interpretation in human trafficking reparations and liability claims under the current Supreme Court jurisprudence and the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). The featured cases will reveal that the same philosophies undergirding the jurisprudence of the slave trade still informs the US Supreme Court’s application of liability for human trafficking in the global supply chain

Singing Songs in a Strange Land: The Plight of Haitian Children in the Space of International Adoption

My thesis is that the best interests of children are not served by severing the familial bonds contemplated by international adoption law. The legal framework that guides international adoption needs to be revised to take into account the socio-cultural needs of children and the socio-economic repercussions of the sending countries. The system, as it currently exists, is at odds with principles of cultural identity, and the rights of self determination embodied in existing international covenants. Part II of this paper will provide a comparative analysis of the two legal instruments that are currently in force to govern the transnational movement of children. Part III will analyze the processes involved in international adoption. Part IV will provide an analysis surrounding the commodification of children based on the class discrimination that is inherent in the adoption process. Finally, Part V will conclude that the wealthier receiving countries must look to international adoption as a last resort, and honor their obligations under international human rights law to ensure that the bundle of rights for children entails the right to keep families intact