Francis Boyle

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Francis Anthony Boyle (born 1950) is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Harvard Law School. He also received a Ph. D. in political science from Harvard University.

Between 1988 and 1992 Boyle was a member of the board of Amnesty International USA. Boyle also charged that Amnesty's staff had been infiltrated by US and UK security services (see Covert Action interview below) a claim hotly disputed by many in the human-rights community.

From 1991 to 1993, Boyle was a legal advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Boyle is currently a member of the Nobel Peace Prize for Governor George H. Ryan Committee.

Professor Boyle is a controversial figure at the University of Illinois. He advocated for warmer US relations with Libya in the 1990s, and speaks fondly of his interactions with Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. Professor Boyle has also made controversial comments about the Middle East, accusing Israel of committing "Nuremberg offenses" against the Palestinians, an allusion to the actions of Nazi Germany.

Boyle has also taken a strong stand in favor of Hawaiian independence and against a University of Illinois "pub crawl" which celebrates Saint Patrick's Day days prior to March 17th. This "celebration" consists of excess drinking as well as increased vandalism on campus. Boyle argues that the latter is offensive to persons of Irish nationality. In the former he uses a resolution signed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton apologizing for U.S. involvement in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy as justification for Hawaiian independence.

In 2002, Boyle protested a speech by Ruth Wedgwood, a law professor performing consulting work for the Bush administration, by equating her advocacy of military tribunals in the War on Terror to kangaroo courts. He appeared with an individual dressed in an anthropomorphic kangaroo costume to underline this point.^[1] More recently Boyle has been on the vanguard of movement to impeach U.S. President George W. Bush. He had previously called for the impeachment of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.