Rob Howse is away and asked me to post this for him:
David Unterhalter, new Appellate Body Member
David Unterhalter, a South African practitioner and law professor, (at Wits), has just been appointed to the Appellate Body to fill the spot left vacant by the untimely death of AB Member Lockhardt. Unterhalter is a very intelligent, politically engaged jurist--a quite dynamic fellow and he happens to be the same age as I am. That means I probably know some ex- of his...I'm scratching my head... Anyhow, he has written or publicly commented on many legal, political and social controversies and bloggers might be interested in seeing some of his positions. For example on the Danish cartoons controversy, he takes a rather absolutist (for my taste) "freedom of expression" position, abstracted from social context. See http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/Articles/TarkArticle.aspx?ID=1894632
The point is obviously not whether one agrees with him on this or that but I think his tendency to express his mind openly ought to be be good for the AB, which I believe needs to be a little more upfront on the normative trade offs it is faced with in interpreting the law and more explicit on the underlying considerations that are driving its rulings--and a lot less afraid of the "Membership" in what they say--not only what they do.
