Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar and UT Law Professor Derek Jinks recently contributed to the 50th anniversary special issue of the Texas International Law Journal. The issue recognizes the most significant contributions from students and academic advisors over the journal’s fifty years

In the article, “Setting the Agenda for Thirty Years of U.S. Foreign Relations Law“, Jinks introduces one of the journal’s seminal works on domestic courts’ implementation of international law. Civil Remedies for Uncivil Wrongs: Combating Terrorism through Transnational Public Law Litigation, by Harold Hongju Koh, was published in the Texas International Law Journal in 1986 before Koh went on to become a Legal Advisor to the Department of State and a Professor at Yale Law School. Jinks says this early article by Koh served as a blueprint for the next thirty years of international law, U.S. foreign relations law, and national security law.

In his piece, Koh argues for “transnational public law litigation”, which Jinks describes as suits brought in American courts to challenge terrorism as a violation of international law. This litigation uses domestic courts to seek compensation for individual victims as well as to establish norms of transnational law. The article triggered debates on “the status of international law in U.S. law, the proper role of courts in foreign affairs, and the propriety of U.S. courts enforcing international law against foreign dependents.” Koh went on to develop these ideas over the course of his career. As the United States still struggles with legal challenges in the fields of terrorism and counterterrorism, the conversation sparked by Koh’s article continues.