The Forum

The evening of September 16, 2009, JESSUP—Valparaiso Law’s international moot court team—hosted its first public debates. The two speakers, Jacob Blackstone and Godwill Tachi, came to argue over the outcome of a fictional conflict in the nation of Alicanto. The situation appeared, at least at first glance, to be the following: after the assassination of Alicanto’s Prime Minister by a radical member of an ethnic minority, the nation of Ravisia placed its military forces inside of Alicanto to preserve order and keep the peace. At least, that’s the story Ravisia is sticking to.

Of course, the plot for this international conflict was much more complex, and both speakers needed to keep a myriad of other details in the back of their minds. You see, Alicanto had been in a state of turmoil for quite some time. Plagued by drug cartels and gun-runners, the nation nearly began a military conflict with its neighbor New Bennu. To resolve this dilemma, Alicanto and New Bennu both agreed to allow a UN Peacekeeping force to occupy Alicantan territory and monitor the peace along the boarder. The principal actor in this requested UN intervention was none-other-than Ravisia itself. Furthermore, Ravisia and Alicanto shared more ties than just this UN sanctioned peacekeeping force. Alicanto was a former colony of Ravisia, and both nations were members of an international organization known as the R-FAN: the Ravisian Family of Allied Nations. And, concerning the placement of those “invading” military forces into Alicanto, the Ravisians basically just left the balance of their peacekeeping forces in the tumultuous nation after the UN mission expired and only added a few more troops thereafter.

These complex, ambiguous issues are what JESSUP primarily deals with in its competitions.  Add to this equation the inherent uncertainty of International Law, and one will soon realize that it’s practically impossible to say, for sure, what outcome a tribunal such as the International Court of Justice will reach. With these uncertainties in mind, Blackstone and Tachi took the stage. For this particular evening, various alumni, as well as Professor Telman, served as the judges.

Tachi, who represented the State of Alicanto, was first to present as agent for the Applicant. Speaking confidently and smoothly, Tachi set up an introduction to his issues while solidifying his position with references to the UN Charter and other customs in the international legal landscape. The first point of the evening to be addressed concerned the military intervention, itself. Were the actions of Ravisia legal, if it acted solely to secure humanitarian treatment for Alicantan citizens? Tachi argued in the negative. States, at least under international law, have sovereignty over the affairs occurring in their boarders. This right, Tachi asserted, could not be violated. In fact, territorial sovereignty stands as one of the longest recognized rights which exists in the otherwise uncertain international community.  The second issue was equally complex. Ravisia had captured the Alicantan accused of assassinating the previous Prime Minister by using a car-bomb. After an exhaustive manhunt, Piccardo Donati—the alleged murderer—could not be located. Consequently, Alicanto held a trial in abstentia. For this issue too, Tachi made his points.

Following Tachi’s arguments, Blackstone took the stage for rebuttal. Like Tachi, Blackstone was poised and made his arguments both eloquently and forcefully. Naturally, his analysis yielded the exact opposite conclusions Tachi had argued just minutes beforehand. Blackstone asserted Ravisia’s intervention into Alicantan affairs was a new feature of International Law. Like what NATO did with the conflict in Kosovo in the late 1990s, Ravisia was doing with Alicanto in 2008-09. Blackstone proclaimed that Ravisia could not stand idly by and allow a genocide to happen. Concerning Donnati, Blackstone cited several treaties and conventions to which Alicanto was a part. A trial without him, Blackstone noted, violated many of the procedural safeguards Alicanto had agreed to implement when it entered into these binding multinational agreements. There exist two well-established sources of International Law under the current political system: treaties and customary international law. Both carry equal weight and binding force.  Blackstone indicated that, were Ravisia to hand over Donnati to Alicantan authorities for an execution, it too would violate international law.

Although each issue was unarguably complex, both speakers were not free to make their arguments without interference.  During the presentations of both speakers, the judges fired off a barrage of questions. Ranging from the binding power of varying conventions to possible alternative remedies to the situation at hand, the judges kept both speakers on their toes. There were also a few questions tossed into the mix which tried to get both speakers to deviate from their main-points or lose their place in their arguments.

Like veterans, however, Blackstone and Tachi stayed focused on their issues. After earning a round of applause from the audience, everyone retired to the Atrium for cake and refreshments.  The members of JESSUP’s executive board presented awards to several team members. Peter Kirby won the Best Brief category. Tachi secured the win for Best Oralist. Blackstone, however, managed to walk away from the evening winning Best Overall Performer.

Even though it is only the beginning of the academic year, the featured members of JESSUP managed to display a high degree of professionalism and demonstrated an impressive understanding of International Law. As Professor Telman’s class on the aforesaid topic is a JESSUP requirement, however, it’s likely that some praise for the competitors’ understanding of International Law should be extended to him. Regardless, it looks like JESSUP is going to have another fantastic season representing the students of Valparaiso at all the competitions it participates in around the United States and North America. To the members of JESSUP, we at The Forum wish you the best of luck.

David Johnson is a 2L and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 9:12 am and is filed under 1-Ready for Editing, 2-Ready for Final Edit.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.