Professor Milena Sterio ranks 39th in the United States in Scholarly Impact Rankings for International Law scholars, according to Hein Online. Hein Online publishes a list of top 100 scholars by subject area, and Professor Sterio is listed in the International Law Impact Rankings. The impact rankings are based on the number of citations, as well as additional factors.
Professor Milena Sterio participated as an expert in a week-long training of Ukrainian judges and prosecutors on International Humanitarian Law, War Crimes Prosecutions, and International Environmental Law, from January 19-23, in Rzeszów, Poland.
The training was organized by the International Bar Association, and the expert team, in addition to Professor Sterio, consisted of professors and practitioners from the United Kingdom, Brazil, Chile, and the United States. Professor Sterio delivered two presentations about the sources of International Humanitarian Law and the fundamental principles of International Humanitarian Law. In addition, she also led several discussion groups and simulated exercises, where she guided Ukrainian colleagues across various evidentiary challenges as they relate to complex war crimes trials. This was Professor Sterio’s second trip to Poland as an expert; she had previously participated in a similar training in September 2024.
Professors Milena Sterio and Kyle Shen spoke at a public forum at the CSU College of Law on January 13, on the topic of “The U.S. Attacks Against Venezuela: Does Might Make Right?” The event was recorded and is available on demand.
Professors Sterio and Shen discussed various international law issues related to the January 3 U.S. attack against Venezuela, as well as the kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Some of the international law topics discussed included use of force issues under the United Nations Charter and related customary law; jurisdiction to enforce; the ability of federal courts to prosecute defendants who had been forcibly brought to the U.S.; recognition of governments; and head-of-state immunity. In addition, Professors Sterio and Shen discussed the global implications of U.S. actions in Venezuela, and the risks associated therewith from a multi-lateral geo-political perspective.
This event was sponsored by CSU College of Law’s International Law Center.
Professor Milena Sterio participated in an episode of the Legal Face-Off Radio Program on Chicago’s WGN station. In this episode, Professor Sterio was interviewed regarding the legality of U.S. action in Venezuela, including the kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Maduro, as well as the prosecution of Maduro and his wife in the Southern District of New York. The episode is available on the WGN Radio website, as well as on various social media:
Professor Sterio concluded that the U.S. actions in Venezuela were illegal under international law as they violated the U.N. Charter as well as corresponding customary law, which bans states from using force against each other. Professor Sterio also opined that the U.S. prosecution of Maduro in the Southern District of New York will most likely proceed. She explained that U.S. federal district court judges tend to defer to the executive branch on matters implicating foreign relations and national security. Moreover, there is Supreme Court precedent confirming that a forcibly kidnapped defendant can nonetheless be prosecuted in U.S. court, and precedent from the 1989-90 Panama situation, where the leader of Panama, General Noriega, was prosecuted by U.S. court despite his claims of sovereign immunity. Last, Professor Sterio discussed legal issues surrounding the enforcement of arrest warrants extra-territorially; she concluded that jurisdiction to enforce is purely territorial under international law and that the U.S. violated international law when it arrested Maduro in Venezuela.
Professor Sterio presented on six different panels at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
On January 6, she spoke on a Hot Topics panel entitled “Ukrainian Resilience on the Front Lines of Democracy: What is the Role of International Law?. On January 7, she spoke on a panel entitled “Declaring a Climate Emergency,” where she focused on the recent rulings by international and regional courts establishing that there is a human right to live in a healthy environment.
Also on January 7, Professor Sterio spoke on a late-breaking panel, which she also organized, on “Maduro’s Capture and the Venezuelan Incursion: Untying the Legal Knots?” On January 8, she presented at two teaching/pedagogy panels, on the topics of “Teaching Human Rights: From Specialized Courses to Doctrinal Integration” and “Teaching International Law & Intergroup Dialogue in Challenging Times” (Professor Sterio organized the latter panel as well). Finally, also on January 8, Professor Sterio provided comments to a junior scholar on a panel entitled “New Voices in International Human Rights and International Law.”
Professor Sterio was also elected Treasurer of the International Law Section; she continues to serve on the Executive Committees of the International Human Rights Law and the National Security Law Sections, where she is past chair.
On January 6, Professor Milena Sterio published a blog post on Opinio Juris, a leading international law blog, where she discussed the legality of the U.S. attacks against Venezuela and the related abduction of Nicolas Maduro. Her post is titled “The United States’ Attack Against Venezuela: Might Does Not Make Right.”
Professor Sterio concludes that the U.S. violated Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, as well as customary law, when it launched its January 3 attack against Venezuela, and when it kidnapped then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Professor Sterio also concludes that this type of military intervention by a Great Power represents problematic policy, as it opens the door to other similar interventions across the world.
Professor Milena Sterio appeared on a segment of Bloomberg News live on January 7. She discussed the legality of the U.S. attacks against Venezuela and the related kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro. She also focused on legal issues surrounding Maduro’s now ongoing prosecution in the Southern District of New York.
Professor Sterio also appeared on Fox News – DC on January 7, in a live news segment, where she discussed the recent decision by a federal district judge to request that Lindsay Halligan explain how and why she keeps acting as U.S. Attorney, in light of a November 2025 ruling by a different federal judge, who had ruled that she had been improperly appointed.
Professor Milena Sterio has been quoted in the media extensively regarding the United States’ attack against Venezuela on Jan. 3. Professor Sterio was quoted in a Reuters article titled “Legality of US capture of Venezuela’s Maduro in focus at United Nations.”
She was also interviewed by Fox 5 (DC) on January 3, where she offered live commentary following President Trump’s Press Conference. In addition, she was interviewed on the Air Talk radio show (Los Angeles NPR station) on January 5; the episode is available for on-demand listening here.
Finally, she was quoted in a BBC article (“Trump’s seizure of Maduro raises thorny legal questions, in US and abroad“) on January 5.
Professor Milena Sterio presented at a book roundtable at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law on December 11 in Philadelphia. The book roundtable centered around Professor Harold Hongju Koh’s new book, The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century. Professor Koh, Yale Law School, is former Legal Advisor to the U.S. State Department and one of the most prominent scholars of international law worldwide.
Professor Sterio’s remarks, on the topic of “Koh’s Mirror Approach as Restraint on Presidential Power in Matters of National Security,” focused on Professor Koh’s proposal, as described in his book, to require the same degree of congressional involvement when it comes to treaty withdrawal or exit as was required for joining the same treaty. Professor Sterio’s remarks will be published in the form of a law review article by the Temple Journal of International and Comparative Law in 2026.
Professor Milena Sterio participated in the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties in The Hague, Netherlands, from December 1-5. Professor Sterio participated as a delegate of the Public International Law and Policy Group, a Washington D.C.-based NGO (the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties is open to states and their delegates, as well as accredited NGO delegates).
During the Assembly, Professor Sterio presented on a panel on the topic of “Practical Measures to Protect the International Criminal Court.” Her remarks focused on the recent U.S. sanctions against three prosecutors as well as six judges at the ICC.
Professor Sterio (top center) with other members of the Crimes Against Humanity Study Group at the American Branch of the International Law Association.
CSU Law Faculty 