Michael A. Newton, co-author of Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein

Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of a Saddam Hussein

What's New:

April 15, 2009, C-SPAN broadcast a panel discussion of “Enemy of the State” and its relevance to the upcoming trials of Radovan Karadzic in The Hague and the Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia. Watch Now>

View the discussion of "Enemy of the State" featuring co-author Michael Scharf, Nuremberg Prosecutor Henry King, and National Public Radio commentator Daniel Maulthrop, held at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage on December 10, 2008.

"[Enemy of the State] offers a detailed, inside account of the court's creation and its proceedings, including gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial itself and legal analysis of its decision. The book offers many insights and revelations omitted by contemporary media accounts, and places the tribunal in its broader international law context."
--The Volokh Conspiracy Blog (Read more)

On the two year anniversary of Saddam's execution, WCPN interviews Michael Scharf. Listen Now>

Gulf News, book review of "Enemy of the State," October 24, 2008, at p. 24

"When Saddam was being tried in Baghdad, no one needed to issue orders for a curfew, as the people remained at home, their eyes glued to the televisions.
'Enemy of the State,' a book authored by Newton and Scharf, has the same effect on readers. The book is a chronicle of the trial and a behind-the-scenes account of its goings-on - where the phrase 'one of the most important chaotic trials in history' seems to become an understatement." Read more>

Watch Michael Newton on WSMV 4 News with Dennis Ferrier

Watch the “Enemy of the State” Panel Discussion

Listen to an interview with Newton and Scharf discuss their book and the Saddam trial on PRI "The World", July 16, 2008. (mp3 file)

Listen to the authors read excerpts from the book.

Other Works by Michael A. Newton
co-author of Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein

Recent Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters
by Michael Newton

How the International Criminal Court Threatens Treaty Norms, 49 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (forthcoming 2016)

Charging War Crimes: Policy and Prognosis, Chapter 28 in The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court: A Critical Account of Challenges and Achievements (Carsten Stahn editor, Oxford University Press, 2015)

Prosecuting Maritime Piracy: Domestic Solutions to International Crimes, Cambridge University Press (2015) (with Michael P. Scharf and Milena Sterio)

Proportionality in International Law, Oxford University Press (2014)

Evolving Equality: The Development of the International Defense Bar, 47 Stanford Journal of International Law 379 (2011) (Winner, International Association of Penal Law, American National Section Article of the Year Award 2011, Awarded for Scholarly Contribution to the Field)

The Quest for Constructive Complementarity, in The ICC and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice, (Cambridge University Press, 2011) (Carsten Stahn & Mohamed El Zeidy, eds.)

Illustrating Illegitimate Lawfare, 43 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 255 (2011). Reprinted online by International Relations and Security Network, Zurich, Switzerland.

Why Criminal Culpability Should Follow the Critical Path: Reframing the Theory of ‘Effective Control,' 40 Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 3 (2009 edition, 2010)

Exceptional Engagement: Protocol I and a World United Against Terror, 42 Texas Journal of International Law 2 (2009)

Modern Military Necessity: The Role and Relevance of Military Lawyers. Roger Williams University Law Review, September 27, 2007

Echoes of Nuremberg, in PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW DIALOGS, AUGUST 29, 2007, CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION, (Elizabeth Anderson and David M. Crane, eds.)(American Society of International Law, 2008), at 101 – 119.

Implementing International Law: A Qualified Defense of the Al Dujail Trial, YEARBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW 2006, VOLUME 9 (Tim McCormack & Avril McDonald, eds. 2008)(Cambridge University Press, 2008), at 117.

The Anfal Genocide: Personal Reflections and Legal Residue, 40 VANDERBILT JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW 1521-1541 (2007).

Public Committee Against Torture in Israel v. Government of Israel: U.S. Military Commissions Through the Lens of the Supreme Court of Israel, 8 ENGAGE: THE JOURNAL OF THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY'S PRACTICE GROUPS NO. 4, 112 (OCTOBER 2007). (pdf file)

A Near Term Retrospective on the Al-Dujail Trial & The Death of Saddam Hussein, 17 TRANSNATIONAL LAW & CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS 32-71 (Winter 2008).

Modern Military Necessity: The Role & Relevance of Military Lawyers, 12 ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 877-903 (2007).

War by Proxy: Legal and Moral Duties of ‘Other Actors’ Derived from Government Affiliation, 37 CASE WESTERN RESERVE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, Nos. 2 & 3, 249-265 (2006).

Legal Authorities for the Creation of the Iraqi High Tribunal, in SADDAM ON TRIAL – UNDERSTANDING AND DEBATING THE IRAQI HIGH TRIBUNAL (Michael P. Scharf & Gregory S. McNeal, eds.)(Carolina Academic Press, 2006)[containing nine of my shorter essays on discrete legal issues]

The Iraqi Special Tribunal: A Human Rights & Rule of Law Synergy, in TESTING THE BOUNDARIES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW 243 (Susan C Breau and Agnieszka Jachec-Neale, eds.)(British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 2006).

Unlawful Belligerency After September 11: History Revisited and Law Revised, in NEW WARS, NEW LAWS? APPLYING THE LAWS OF WAR TO 21ST CENTURY CONFLICTS 75 (David Wippman and Matthew Evangelista, eds.)(Transnational Publishers, 2005).

The Iraqi High Criminal Court: Controversy and Contributions, 88 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF THE RED CROSS , NO. 862, 399-425 (June 2006).

A selection of Op-Eds and Scholarly Commentary
by Michael Newton

Crimes Against Humanity in Burma (July 2008)

Enemy Combatant Cases, in OXFORD GUIDE TO SUPREME COURT DECISIONS (2d. ed, Oxford University Press, 2008)

Case Commentary: Munaf, Bigger than Boumediene?, 30 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION NATIONAL SECURITY LAW 10 (June 2008)

We Never Had Enough Troops to do the Job, NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN OP-ED PAGE, February 16, 2008

U.S. Troops Do Their Duty, WASHINGTON TIMES OP-ED PAGE, May 3, 2007

Introductory Note to Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Provisional Detention Order Against Kaing Guek Eav, 46 INTERNATIONAL LEGAL MATERIALS 911 (2007).

American Society of International Law INSIGHT, The Iraqi High Tribunal’s Dujail Trial Opinion, December 16, 2006, Vol. 10, Issue 34.

Concurring opinion for the International Citizen’s Tribunal for Sudan, November 2006.

Inside Look at the Anfal Trial, NASHVILLE BAR JOURNAL, Volume 8, September 2006.