Posted on 04/02/2005 3:58:14 AM PST by Pharmboy
WASHINGTON, April 1 - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court embraced the practice of consulting foreign legal decisions on Friday, rejecting the argument from conservatives that United States law should not take international thinking into account.
After a strongly worded dissent in a juvenile death penalty case from Justice Antonin Scalia last month that accused the court of putting too much faith in international opinion, Justice Ginsberg said the United States system should, if anything, consider international law more often.
"Judges in the United States are free to consult all manner of commentary," she said in a speech to several hundred lawyers and scholars here Friday.
She cited several instances when the logic of foreign courts had been applied to help untangle legal questions domestically, and of legislatures and courts abroad adopting United States law.
Fears about relying too heavily on world opinion "should not lead us to abandon the effort to learn what we can from the experience and good thinking foreign sources may convey," Justice Ginsburg told members of the American Society of International Law.
On March 1, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the Constitution forbids executing convicts who committed their crimes before turning 18. The majority opinion reasoned that the United States was increasingly out of step with the world by allowing minors to be executed, saying "the United States now stands alone in a world that has turned its face against the juvenile death penalty."
Justice Scalia lambasted that logic, saying that "like-minded foreigners" should not be given a role in helping interpret the Constitution. House Republicans have introduced a resolution declaring that the "meaning of the Constitution of the United States should not be based on judgments, laws or pronouncements of foreign institutions unless such foreign judgments, laws or pronouncements inform an understanding of the original meaning of the Constitution of the United States."
In her speech, Justice Ginsberg criticized the resolutions in Congress and the spirit in which they were written. "Although I doubt the resolutions will pass this Congress, it is disquieting that they have attracted sizable support," she said.
"The notion that it is improper to look beyond the borders of the United States in grappling with hard questions has a certain kinship to the view that the U.S. Constitution is a document essentially frozen in time as of the date of its ratification," Justice Ginsburg said.
"Even more so today, the United States is subject to the scrutiny of a candid world," she said. "What the United States does, for good or for ill, continues to be watched by the international community, in particular by organizations concerned with the advancement of the rule of law and respect for human dignity."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice introduced Justice Ginsburg at the event, the first appearance by a sitting secretary of state before the 99-year-old organization in decades. Dr. Rice described Justice Ginsberg as "a great and good friend," adding that they also happened to be neighbors.
May the Schwartz be with you
"Pistol packin Mama... Lay that pistol down!!!"
I am thinking more seriously about Saudi Arabia's approach to women's suffrage.
Any chance she brings a Bible into her chambers?
About as likely as Madonna (the singer) being a virgin
;-)
Legislation schmegislation and the Constitution be damned! Marxists like Ginsberg and Breyer thrive on the use of raw power. Only Congress can stop her but it needs to grow some big ones. Those who refer to the Constitution as an antique document always glide right past the bothersome matter of our power to amend it.
This scares the hell out of me. Globalists like Ginsberg will stop at nothing in their efforts to chip away American sovereignty, and far too many in this country are blind to the repercussions that will follow.
Ginsberg should be the first judge Delay brings up for impeachment.
Scalia attack Chief Justice Marshall? I don't know about that, but here's some Scalia quotes that might be helpful:
Here's Justice Scalia, while dissenting in Thompson v. Oklahoma. 487 US 815 (1988):
And here's Justice Scalia, while dissenting in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 US 334 (1995):
All of the justices find occasions in which they find the laws of other nations to be supportive of their opinions/arguments. ;-)
Excellent answer...Hats Off...thanks ROLLO T.
I know; and thank you.
All this hysteria about US courts consulting foreign decisions in other Western countries (i.e., Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) is frankly silly. The tradition goes back centuries. Heck, the US got its common law from England!
I don't remember seeing it. I also did a quick search and came up empty. :-(
And I'd be willing to bet that there are plenty of laws in Saudi Arabia and other arab countries that would have Ginsberg removed from the bench altogether!
I'll bet she won't be referencing any of those laws...
Mark
This is by far one the most disturbing things I have seen in the last year or so on FR.
It would appear at this moment that the American people are helpless to do anything.
It is becoming more and more clear that Americans no longer live under a Democracy nor a Republic. They live under an Oligarchy.
Come to think more about it... I may have seen this a decade ago when I was in office and before FR really got it's start. I'm trying to pin down in my mind when and where I saw it. I may have to call my assistant at the time. She was an excellent searcher, like you.
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