 Despite taking over eight months for the U.S. State Department, Solicitor General and Department of Justice to formulate a combined final position in "Filártiga v. Peña-Irala", the ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, that torture is prohibited by international law, was heavily influenced by the "amicus" briefs initiated by Schwebel and his team at the U.S. State Dept.On January 1981, Schwebel was elected by the U.N. Security Council and U.N. General Assembly, along with Fikri El-Khani of Syria, to fill vacancies created by the deaths of Richard R. Baxter (U.S.A.) and Salah El Dne Trazi (Syria).Judge Schwebel was re-elected on February 6, 1988 and re-elected again February 6, 1997.