The Commission Prosecutor: Navigating Uncharted Ethical Waters in a Sea of International Uncertainty

22 Pages Posted: 14 Jul 2009

See all articles by Geoffrey S. Corn

Geoffrey S. Corn

Texas Tech University School of Law

Date Written: July 10, 2009

Abstract

The ethical challenges confronting Military Commission prosecutors is indeed unique. Unlike the 'typical' stress associated with the prosecutors obligation to 'do justice', these prosecutors face a dilemma far more complex than the question of how far to push an evidentiary rule or whether to charge an offense unsupported by probable cause. Instead, they confront the ethical dilemma created by a potential conflict between the legitimacy of two conflicting sources of law: domestic and international. On a daily basis, they must reconcile the scope of criminal liability established by Congress in the Military Commissions Act with the scope of criminality derived from the law Congress purported to codify: the law of armed conflict. The potential delta between these two sources of law creates for them an ethical dilemma of massive proportion: What is the prosecutor’s duty when the law she is told to implement is itself of suspect legality? This article will explore the source of this dilemma, and propose that it is the law of armed conflict itself that provides the most effective test for determining when executing the law may itself be inconsistent with the ultimate obligation to 'do justice.'

Keywords: military commissions, international law, prosecutorial ethics, the Law of Armed Conflict, humanitarian law, national security law, war crimes

Suggested Citation

Corn, Geoffrey S., The Commission Prosecutor: Navigating Uncharted Ethical Waters in a Sea of International Uncertainty (July 10, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1432534 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1432534

Geoffrey S. Corn (Contact Author)

Texas Tech University School of Law ( email )

3311 18th Street
School of Law
Lubbock, TX 79409
United States
8322442204 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
53
Abstract Views
930
Rank
681,958
PlumX Metrics