What time is it?
I’m glad you asked!
It’s time for the next edition of Adventures in Nuclear Non-Proliferation!
When we last checked in with our heroes, known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands, they had filed lawsuits against the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations, including the United States.
Since their home was the site of almost 70 nuclear tests coordinated by the United States in the 1940s and ’50s, and they regularly watched missile tests originating from Vandenberg Air Force Base streak over their skies, the Marshall Islanders decided to make a little noise of their own in the International Court of Justice and the U.S. Federal District Court. They filed the suit last year, not so much seeking money as hoping to bring worldwide attention to the issue of nuclear weapons—an issue that has never really gone away since the first fiery mushroom cloud erupted on the surface and forever changed the future of the planet.
To that end, the method seems to be working. A bit. A little bit.
I certainly broaden the islanders’ audience as much as I can by my limited efforts, given that I’ve now written about this issue several times in this space. The Nation ran a story back at the end of January, and the Boston Globe reported on it earlier that month. The New York Times touched on the subject at the end of 2014.
In case you’ve forgotten, the Marshall Islands suit calls on nine countries around the world to finally get serious about nuclear disarmament. Considering a global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—as well as the proliferation of nuclear weapons in spite of the treaty—the Republic of the Marshall Islands thinks it’s about time for the planet’s leaders to taper back on super-destructive arms and fulfill what they see as the legal obligations of the treaty.
The islands’ legal team recently reported, however, that a U.S. Federal Court judge dismissed their suit, saying that they lacked standing to bring the case and that it was barred by the political question doctrine. That doctrine means the issue before the court is actually a political one, rather than a legal one, and so the court won’t rule. A little more technically, it means that the judicial branch feels the issue falls squarely under the jurisdiction of another branch of the government, such as the executive branch.
“The Court’s decision on this is akin to turning the matter over to the foxes to guard the nuclear henhouse,” David Krieger, president of the Santa Barbara-based Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and consultant to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, said in a press release. “This will cause many national leaders to reconsider the value of entering into treaties with the U.S.”
I get what he’s saying, but I don’t know. If other national leaders aren’t already skeptical of a treaty with the United States, I doubt that this is going to be the thing that’s going to push them fully into the “no” category. But it might. Again, I don’t know, mainly because I’m no longer good at assessing the rest of the world’s perception of us.
Either way, the fight isn’t over. Laurie Ashton, counsel for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, said they’re pressing forward.
“The next step is an appeal of the Court’s Order to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,” she wrote in a press release. “As the RMI continues to pursue legal remedies to enforce the most important clause of the [Nuclear Proliferation Treaty], we implore the U.S. to honor its binding Article VI obligations, and call for and pursue the negotiations that have never begun—namely negotiations in good faith relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament. Zero is the only safe number of nuclear weapons.”
The group’s site, nuclearzero.org, puts it a bit more bluntly: “Tell world leaders that you demand a world without nuclear weapons.”
What do you think? Are nuclear weapons a necessary evil? Or not really an evil at all?
Last time I put out a call for responses, I got back a fair number of emails—which was encouraging. So let’s try that again. Let me know your take on the Marshall Islands and this lawsuit of theirs taking aim at global nuclear powers.
Think all of the legal wrangling and appeals processes will accomplish anything? Or is global armament the price of peace?
The Canary likes islands. Send comments or ideas to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 12-19, 2015.