An FPIF Statement

Lawyers Statement on
UN Resolution 1441 on Iraq

0212lawyers.pdf [printer-friendly version]

The Bush administration claims that it does not legally need Security Council authorization to attack Iraq if the United States concludes that Iraq breaches its obligations to comply with UN Security Council Resolutions. As Professors of Law and practicing attorneys, we believe that the administration's legal position is incorrect and poses a grave danger for the future of international law, the United Nations, and a peaceful international order.

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits any nation from using force. The Charter contains only two exceptions: when such force is employed in self-defense or when it is authorized by the UN Security Council. Thus far the Security Council has been unwilling to authorize a U.S. attack against Iraq. This refusal, reflecting the widespread international sentiment against war with Iraq, makes any unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq illegal under international law.

Signatories:

Richard L. Abel
Connell Professor of Law
UCLA Law School

Linda M. Beale
Professor of Law
University of Illinois College of Law

George Bell
Professor of Law
University of Illinois
College of Law

Leslie Bender
Associate Dean & Professor of Law & Women's Studies
Syracuse University College of Law

Robert Benson
Professor of International Law
Loyola Law School- Los Angeles

George E. Bisharat
Professor of Law
Hastings College of the Law

Susan H. Bitensky
Professor of Law
Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law

Francis A. Boyle
Professor of Law
University of Illinois College of Law

Melinda Branscomb
Associate Professor of Law
Seattle University School of Law

Mark S. Brodin
Professor of Law
Boston College Law School

John Burroughs
Executive Director
Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, New York

Emily Calhon
Professor of Law
University of Colorado School of Law
Camilo Perez Bustillo
Professor of International Human Rights LawW.Haywood Burns Memorial Chair in Civil Rights Law
CUNY School of Law

Craig W. Christensen
Professor of Law
Southwestern University School of Law
Los Angeles

Rhonda Copelon
Professor of Law & Director
International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic (IWHR)
City University of New York School of Law

Frank E. Deale
Professor of Law
CUNY Law School

Jeffrey D. Dillman
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic
Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Pamela Edwards
Professor of Law
CUNY School of Law

Marvin Fein
Associate Professor of Legal Writing and Director of the Civil Litigation Certificate Program
University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Brian J. Foley
Professor of Law
Widener University School of Law

Professor Caroline Forell
University of Oregon
School of Law

David H. Getches
Raphael J. Moses Prof. of Natural Resources Law
University of Colorado School of Law

Phyllis Goldfarb
Professor of Law
Boston College Law School

Peter Halewood
Professor of Law
Albany Law School of Union University

Kathy Hessler
Professor of Law
Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Wythe Holt
University Research Professor of Law
University of Alabama School of Law

David Kairys
James E. Beasley Professor of Law
Beasley School of Law
Temple University

Eileen Kaufman
Professor of Law
Touro Law School

Walter J. Kendall III
The John Marshall Law School

Andrew Lichterman
Program Director
Western States Legal Foundation

Holly Maguigan
Professor of Clinical Law
New York University School of Law

Roger Normand
Executive Director
Center for Economic and Social Rights

Mary Ellen O'Connell
William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law
Michael E. Moritz College of Law and the
Mershon Center for International Security
The Ohio State University

Alan Pemberton
Adjunct Professor of Constitutional Law
Georgetown University Law School

Peter Pitegoff
Vice Dean for Academic Affairs & Professor
University at Buffalo Law School
State University of New York
Michael Ratner
President, Center for Constitutional Rights

Florence Wagman Roisman
Professor of Law and Paul Beam Fellow
Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis

Thomas L. Shaffer
Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law Emeritus
University of Notre Dame

Margaret A. Shannon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
State University of New York-Buffalo Law School

Marjorie A. Silver
Professor of Law
Touro Law Center

Beth Stephens
Rutgers-Camden Law School

Peter Weiss
President
International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms

Mark E. Wojcik
Associate Professor of Law
The John Marshall Law School, Chicago

Jeanne M. Woods
Professor of Law
Loyola New Orleans School of Law

Richard W. Wright
Professor of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Illinois Institute of Technology

Mitchell Zimmerman
Law Professors For the Rule of Law