Search

Home > Radiolab > Enemy of Mankind
Podcast: Radiolab
Episode:

Enemy of Mankind

Category: Science & Medicine
Duration: 00:56:33
Publish Date: 2020-12-10 23:43:00
Description:

Should the U.S. Supreme Court be the court of the world? In the 18th century, two feuding Frenchmen inspired a one-sentence law that helped launch American human rights litigation into the 20th century. The Alien Tort Statute allowed a Paraguayan woman to find justice for a terrible crime committed in her homeland. But as America reached further and further out into the world, the court was forced to confront the contradictions in our country’s ideology: sympathy vs. sovereignty. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Jesner v. Arab Bank, a case that could reshape the way America responds to human rights abuses abroad. Does the A.T.S. secure human rights or is it a dangerous overreach?

Additional music for this episode by Nicolas Carter.

Special thanks to William J. Aceves, William Baude, Diego Calles, Alana Casanova-Burgess, William Dodge, Susan Farbstein, Jeffery Fisher, Joanne Freeman, Julian Ku, Nicholas Rosenkranz, Susan Simpson, Emily Vinson, Benjamin Wittes and Jamison York. Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., who appears in this episode, passed away in October 2016.

Supreme Court archival audio comes from Oyez®, a free law project in collaboration with the Legal Information Institute at Cornell.

Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.    

Total Play: 0

Users also like

1K+ Episodes
No Such Thin .. 4K+     300+
900+ Episodes
The Daily Bo .. 7K+     1K+
90+ Episodes
Sleep with S .. 100+     10+
2K+ Episodes
The Joe Roga .. 48K+     2K+
900+ Episodes
Lore 2K+     100+

Some more Podcasts by WNYC Studios

70+ Episodes
Indivisible 90+     4
400+ Episodes
On the Media     8
200+ Episodes
Note to Self 40+     10+
100+ Episodes
Trump, Inc. 100+     10+
1K+ Episodes
On the Media 200+     100+
200+ Episodes
Nancy 300+     10+
90+ Episodes
Radiolab Pre .. 500+     20+
50+ Episodes
Late Night W .. 50+     5