Originally an offshoot of our work to defend the Alien Tort Claims Act, the Shock and Law campaign seeks to raise awareness about the Bush Administration's assault on international law, domestic law, and international treaties.

The Bush Administration has attacked international law in at least four ways. First, it has ignored, undermined and weakened a variety of critical international treaties, including treaties that promote human rights, women's rights, global health, environmental sustainability and peace and security. Second, the Administration has ignored and violated international law when not compatible with its political aims. Third, the Administration sought to create a legal no man's land at the U.S. Controlled Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, where, in the name of the War on Terror, the Administration has tried to deny detainees captured abroad any right to challenge their detention. Finally, the administration has sought to weaken international legal principles by undermining domestic legislation meant to enshrine the same principles within U.S. Law, and by passing executive orders rebuking them.

The much anticipated report, “Shock and Law: George W. Bush’s Attack on Law and Universal Human Rights”, details the Bush Administration’s assault on the rule of law, and sets out a program to ensure that, in 2008, explicit hostility toward human rights is no longer a winning campaign message.