Sinister Translations: Law's Authority in a Post-9/11 World

Abstract

What does the killing and burial of bin Laden tell us about the sites, sources, and nature of law's authority in a post-'9/11' world? 1 If law is constituted by "acts of language [that] are actions in the world,'2 then the law embodied by these events is discernible through an analysis of Obama's announcement on the killing of bin Laden. Obama's announcement avoids the term 'law' yet makes present the relationship between 'law,' justice,' legitimacy, and violence. Through critical theory on language, translation, and political myth, this paper explores the translations at work in constructing law's authority for a post-9/11 world.