State and Federal Genocide (recognition, that is)

The powers that are not explicitly granted to the federal government in the United States Constitution are powers of the individuals states. Officially recognizing genocide probably was not on the founders' minds when they drew these guidelines up. Yet this has become an issue, as the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that a California law passed in 2000 cannot be upheld because the U.S. federal government has not officially recognized the Armenian genocide of 1915-1918. The law allowed surviving Armenian family members to sue foreign insurance companies for damages that remained unpaid since the massacres.

Despite Candidate Barack Obama's insistence that the United States government would officially recognize the Armenian genocide as such, since being elected, President Obama has muted these assertions. His overtures to Turkey now include notations that he still 'personally' believes his previous statements (ie, that genocide occurred), but the federal government still has not - as he said he wanted it to - recognize the massacres as genocide.

According to Los Angeles lawyer Brian S. Kabateck, "If taken to its logical extension, what [the U.S. 9th Circuit Court's] decision means is that all 40 states that have recognized the Armenian genocide have to set aside that recognition." According to the Court, however, California law cannot impinge upon the President's ability to conduct foreign diplomatic relations as he sees fit: in this case, that involves leaving a genocide unacknowledged.