On November 12, 2010, the Southwestern Law School will host a symposium on "Beyond Borders: Extraterritoriality in American Law." Here's the idea:A flurry of recent activity and scholarship has involved disputes over the geographic reach of domestic law. Do U.S. laws stop at the border? If not, when do they – or when should they – govern the conduct of people abroad? From the controversial extraterritorial application of U.S. commercial and environmental laws, to the contentious uses of universal jurisdiction in the human rights context, to debates over the extent to which the U.S. Constitution applies outside U.S. territory – extraterritorial transnational litigation has gripped the headlines and remains at the center of heated controversies.
This topic is a timely one. A number of scholars have recently written influential law review articles and books on these topics, and the U.S. Supreme Court decided a landmark case last term. For the near future, the topic of territoriality and extraterritoriality promises to be a focal point of discussion and debate for constitutional, transnational, and international law scholars. Beyond Borders – Extraterritoriality in American Law brings together leading scholars to discuss the history, doctrine, and current issues related to this widely discussed matter from a variety of points of view.
