The Obama Administration’s First Year and IHL: A Pragmatist Reclaims the High Ground

Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 12, p. 263, 2009

24 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2010 Last revised: 9 Jun 2015

See all articles by Eric Talbot Jensen

Eric Talbot Jensen

Brigham Young University School of Law

Geoffrey S. Corn

Texas Tech University School of Law

Date Written: April 27, 2010

Abstract

President Obama’s first year in office can be defined by two words: pragmatism and commitment. His pragmatism is reflected in the decision to continue to pursue the armed conflicts against transnational terrorism, and his refusal to abandon the legal and policy positions of his predecessor that lodge that struggle squarely within an armed conflict paradigm. His commitment is reflected both in his decision to continue the armed struggle against transnational terrorism, and in the actions he has taken to demonstrate US commitment to fundamental humanitarian principles of the law, and to abandon the policy of legal exceptionalism that defined his predecessor’s ‘authority without obligation’ interpretation of the law as it applied to this armed conflict. Any doubt about these dual pillars of his approach to transnational terrorism was eliminated when he delivered his Nobel acceptance speech. In that speech, he challenged the international community to accept the continuing need to meet the threat of transnational terrorism with military force. However, he also emphasized that maintaining the moral high ground in the conduct of hostilities – even when confronting an immoral opponent – is at the very core of the American military tradition.

This essay will review what the authors consider the President’s most significant humanitarian law related decisions during his first year in office. It will focus on six major aspects of international humanitarian law: 1) the definition of enemy combatant; 2) detainee judicial review; 3) military commissions; 4) self help measures in self-defense; 5) fundamental guarantees under customary international law; and 6) the US position vis a vis the International Criminal Court.

Suggested Citation

Jensen, Eric Talbot and Corn, Geoffrey S., The Obama Administration’s First Year and IHL: A Pragmatist Reclaims the High Ground (April 27, 2010). Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 12, p. 263, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1596962

Eric Talbot Jensen

Brigham Young University School of Law ( email )

504 JRCB
Provo, UT 84602
United States

Geoffrey S. Corn (Contact Author)

Texas Tech University School of Law ( email )

3311 18th Street
School of Law
Lubbock, TX 79409
United States
8322442204 (Phone)

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