International lawyers who have adopted the approach of shaping the law to fit policy decisions are partly responsible for the eroding commitment to legal frameworks, Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell, member of CERL’s Advisory Council, writes in an opinion for Verfassungsblog. In discussing the Trump administration’s recent strikes on boats suspected of carrying drugs, she warns of the dangers of ‘diluting’ the law to serve the interests of those in power. 

Mary Ellen O’Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution—Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. Read her bio here.    

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