Oona A. Hathaway

Oona Anne Hathaway (born 1972) is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law and both founder and director of the Center for Global Legal Challenges at Yale Law School. She is also a Professor of International and Area Studies at The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies; Faculty at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs; and Professor (by courtesy) at the Department of Political Science. She was one of the ten most cited international law scholars from 2009 to 2013. In 2014-15, she served as the Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense, a position for which she received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence.

Hathaway was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. While in high school, she participated in the We the People and Mock Trial programs as a student at Lincoln High School, where she was also Student Body President.

She received her B.A. with summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1994 and her J.D. from Yale Law School, where in 1997 she was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal.

Hathaway clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and for D.C. Circuit Judge Patricia Wald, and held fellowships at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and Center for the Ethics and the Professions. She was an Associate Professor at Boston University School of Law and Yale Law School, and served as Professor of Law at U.C. Berkeley.

Hathaway is married to Jacob S. Hacker, Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University. They have two children.

Academic publications

• (2013) The Power to Detain: Detention of Terrorism Suspects After 9/11, 38 The Yale Journal of International Law 123 (with Samuel Adelsberg, Spencer Amdur, Philip Levitz, Freya Pitts, and Sirine Shebaya).
• (2013) The Treaty Power: Its History, Scope, and Limits, 98 Cornell Law Review 239 (with Spencer Amdur, Celia Choy, Samir Deger-Sen, Haley Nix, John Paredes, and Sally Pei).
• (2014) Fighting the Last War: The United Nations Charter in the Age of the War on Terror, in Charter of the United Nations Together with Scholarly Commentaries and Essential Historical Documents, (Joseph Lambert & Ian Shapiro, eds.) (Yale University Press).
• (2012) Tortured Reasoning: The Intent to Torture Under International and Domestic Law, 52 Virginia Journal of International Law 791 (with Aileen Nowlan & Julia Spiegel).
• (2012) Between Power and Principle: An Integrated Theory of International Law, in The Role of Ethics in International Law, (Donald Earl Childress III, ed.) (Cambridge University Press).
• (2012) The Law of Cyber-Attack, 100 California Law Review 817 (with Rebecca Crootof, Philip Levitz, Haley Nix, Aileen Nowlan, William Perdue, Julia Spiegel).
• (2012) Which Law Governs During Armed Conflict? The Relationship Between International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law, 96 Minnesota Law Review 1883 (with Rebecca Crootof, Philip Levitz, Haley Nix, William Perdue, Chelsea Purvis, and Julia Spiegel).
• (2012) International Law at Home: Enforcing Treaties in U.S. Courts 37 Yale Journal of International Law 1 (with Sara Solow & Sabria McElroy).
• (2012) International Law at a Crossroads, 7 Yale Journal of International Affairs 54 (with Sara Solow & Sabria McElroy).
• (2011) Outcasting: Enforcement in Domestic and International Law, 121 Yale Law Journal 252 (with Scott J. Shapiro).
• (2011) Human Rights Abroad: When Do Human Rights Treaty Obligations Apply Extraterritorially?, 43 Arizona State Law Journal 1 (with Philip Levitz, Elizabeth Nielsen, Aileen Nowlan, William Perdue, Chelsea Purvis, Sara Solow, and Julia Spiegel).
• (2011) Limited War and the Constitution: Iraq and the Crisis of Presidential Legality, 109 Michigan Law Review 447 (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (2010) The Case for Promoting Democracy Through Export Control, 33 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 17.
• (2009) Presidential Power over International Law: Restoring the Balance, 119 Yale Law Journal 140.
• (2008) Treaties' End: The Past, Present, and Future of International Lawmaking in the United States, 117 Yale Law Journal 1236 (Replication Files: Treaties' Data Table 1, Comparative Constitutions).
• (2008) International Delegation and State Sovereignty, 71 Law and Contemporary Problems 115.
• (2007) Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: Domestic Enforcement of International Law, in International Law Stories, (John E. Noyes, Laura A. Dickinson, Mark W. Janis, eds.) (Foundation Press).
• (2007) Why Do Countries Commit to Human Rights Treaties?, 51 Journal of Conflict Resolution 588.
• (2006) Rationalism and Revisionism in International Law, 119 Harvard Law Review 1404 (with A. Lavinbuk).
• (2005) Between Power and Principle: An Integrated Theory of International Law, 72 University of Chicago Law Review 469.
• (2004) The New Empiricism in Human Rights: Insights and Implications, 98 American Society of International Law Proceedings 206.
• (2005) Foundations of International Law and Politics (Foundation Press) (with Harold Hongju Koh).
• (2004) The Promise and Limits of the International Law of Torture, in Torture: A Collection, (Sanford Levinson ed.) (Oxford University Press).
• (2003) The Cost of Commitment, 55 Stanford Law Review 1821.
• (2003) Testing Conventional Wisdom, 14 European Journal of International Law 185.
• (2002) Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?, 111 Yale Law Journal 1935.
• (2001) Path Dependence in the Law: The Course and Pattern of Legal Change in a Common Law System, 86 The Iowa Law Review 101.
• (1998) Positive Feedback: The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Industry Demands for Protection, 52 International Organization 575.
• (1996) Book Note, The Politics of the Confirmation Process, 106 Yale Law Journal 235.

Other articles

• (2011) Going It Alone: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement as a Sole Executive Agreement, 15 American Society of International Law (with Amy Kapczynski).
• (August 1, 2011) Our Unbalanced Democracy, New York Times (with Jacob Hacker).
• (June 1, 2011) Obama’s Illegal War, Foreign Policy (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (May 17, 2011) Death of the War Powers Act?, Washington Post (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (May 3, 2011) The World After Bin Laden, Washington Post (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (April 6, 2011) ARGUMENT The Constitutional Clock Is Ticking on Obama’s War, Foreign Policy (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (March 9, 2011) It's Not Up to the President to Impose a No-Fly Zone Over Libya, The Huffington Post (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (January 27, 2011) Did Congress approve America's longest war?, The Guardian (U.K.) (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (April 3, 2010) How To Swing Arms Control: Obama can model Nixon and Clinton to get a new treaty through Congress., Los Angeles Times (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (March 22, 2010) Co-Counsel, Brief for Non-Governmental Organizations and Scholars as Amici Curiai in Support of Rehearing or Rehearing En Banc, Al-Bihani v. Obama, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
• (February 17, 2010) Hear the Uighurs: The critical Guantanamo case the Supreme Court should not duck., Slate Magazine (with Rebecca Crootof).
• (December 2009) Counsel of Record, International Law Experts Brief, Kiyemba v. Obama, United States Supreme Court.
• (December 9, 2009) What Will Congress Do About Afghanistan?, Slate Magazine Online (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (August 23, 2009) America needs to prepare for early Iraq pullout, The Financial Times (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (January 1. 2009) The Iraq War Is Now Illegal, The Daily Beast (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (December 12, 2008) A legal time bomb in Iraq, The Guardian (U.K.) (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (November 26, 2008) Bush should include Congress, The Boston Globe (with Congressman Bill Delahunt).
• (October 21, 2008) Bush's Final Illusion, Slate Magazine (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (November 16, 2008) The Case for Replacing Article II Treaties With Ex Post Congressional-Executive Agreements, American Constitution Society Issue Brief.
• (March 4, 2008) Testimony on “Declaration and Principles: Future U.S. Commitments to Iraq”, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight.
• (February 8, 2008) Testimony on “The November 26 Declaration of Principles: Implications for UN Resolutions on Iraq and for Congressional Oversight", House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight.
• (September 10, 2008) What Bush Will Surrender in Iraq, Time Magazine (Online) (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (July 25, 2008) Into No-Man's Land, Los Angeles Times (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (April 5, 2008) The War's Expiration Date, The Washington Post Online (with Bruce Ackerman).
• (November 19, 2007) Why We Need International Law, The Nation.
• (October 26, 2005) A Tortured Way to Run War on Terror, Newsday.
• (January 17, 2005) Debate Club: Is International Law Useful?, Legal Affairs (with Eric Posner).
• Security and Human Rights (Paper for the United Nations High Level Panel on Global Security Threats, commissioned by the UN Foundation).
• (Autumn 2003) Two Cheers for International Law, 27 Wilson Quarterly 50.
• (2003) Making Human Rights Treaties Work: Global Legal Information and Human Rights in the 21st Century, 31 International Journal of Legal Info 312.
• (January 1, 1996) Book Note, The Politics of the Confirmation Process, 106 Yale Law Journal 229.
• (Winter 1992/93) Whither Biodiversity? The Global Debate over Biological Variety Continues, 15 Harvard International Review 58.
• (March 1992) Lifting the Veil, 19 Harvard Political Review 16.