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Students in the Transnational Disputes Clinic learn to use strategic litigation to influence the progressive development of the law. Clinic clients and partners include those appearing before international investor-state arbitral tribunals, national courts, such as U.S. federal courts, and other fora. Students learn key skills through acting as counsel for parties as well as for amici curiae in disputes that implicate the protection of fundamental rights.
Clinic matters focus on advancing fundamental rights in strategic litigation in two areas. First on the clinic’s docket are matters drawn from a global collaboration advancing the rights of refugees through strategic litigation, the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights, cofounded by Professor Kysel in 2021 and supported by the Law School’s Migration and Human Rights Program. This includes ongoing litigation in U.S. federal court and recent interventions in the United States Supreme Court, courts in Mexico, Kenya, and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.
Also on the clinic’s docket are matters before international investor-state arbitral tribunals, an area of the law that is rapidly developing. This includes an ongoing partnership with an organization contemplating bringing a treaty-based claim as well as a recent nondisputing party intervention on behalf of several human rights NGOs in a case pending at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.
In February, students in the Transnational Disputes Clinic filed a case in federal court against the Department of State, the FBI, and the CIA on behalf of their client, Ms. F. For more than ten years, Ms. F., a U.S. citizen whose family fled Afghanistan when she was a child, has sought to reunite in the United States with her husband, Mr. R, an Afghan citizen. Their family, which includes four U.S. citizen children, have suffered through war, displacement, and years of separation across three continents.
After the family was detained at Camp Bondsteel, a U.S. military base in Kosovo, for nearly a year, the U.S. government informed the family that Mr. R’s immigrant visa application—which had been in Administrative Processing for years—was denied. The boilerplate visa denial notice only referenced a broad statutory ground of inadmissibility without any further information.
This filing is the first step towards reuniting this family and ensuring they can live safely together in the U.S. Pictured from left: Ammar Inayatali ’24, Olive Monye ’25, Ifrah Qadir ’25, Professor Ian Kysel, Lucy Liu ’25, and Federica Fischetti ’24.
Cornell Transnational Disputes Clinic students Maria Giovanna Jumper ’24, Ifrah Qadir ’25, and Ammar Inayatali ’24, traveled to Washington, D.C. in April to watch the U.S. Supreme Court hear argument in United States v. Muñoz. The case raises the legal question of whether U.S. citizens are entitled to due process – including meaningful notice and judicial review – to challenge consular denials of immigrant visas to their spouses. The clinic filed an amicus brief in the case, which is contrary to the Biden administration’s arguments that affording U.S. citizens due process in visa denial cases is impractical, and would jeopardize the United States’ foreign relations and national security interests. If the Court accepts the Government’s arguments, the US would become a outlier on this issue internationally.
Maria Giovanna Jumper ’24 went to Warsaw, Poland, in fall 2023 to present work from the Advanced Transnational Disputes Clinic at the European Consultation on Strategic Litigation & Legal Advocacy for Refugee and Migrant Rights. Jumper presented select projects from the clinic, including the amicus work in Mexico last spring on the implementation of the Title 42 border policy and work advocating on behalf of Afghani detainees at Camp Bondsteel. The consultation involves litigators from around Europe, representatives from refugee groups, and representatives from NGOs and other advocacy groups working to support migrant and refugee rights. The consultation is sponsored by the Global Strategic Litigation Council, which is cohosted by Cornell.