Ginsburg: Int'l law shaped court rulings

AP | 8/03/03 | GINA HOLLAND

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is looking beyond America's borders for guidance in handling cases on issues like the death penalty and gay rights, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Saturday.

The justices referred to the findings of foreign courts this summer in their own ruling that states may not punish gay couples for having sex.

And in 2002, the court said that executing mentally retarded people is unconstitutionally cruel. That ruling noted that the practice was opposed internationally.

"Our island or lone ranger mentality is beginning to change," Ginsburg said during a speech to the American Constitution Society, a liberal lawyers group holding its first convention.

Justices "are becoming more open to comparative and international law perspectives," said Ginsburg, who has supported a more global view of judicial decision making.

Ginsburg cited an international treaty in her vote in June to uphold the use of race in college admissions.

The shift has angered some conservatives. Justice Antonin Scalia, in the gay sex case, wrote with two colleagues that the court should not "impose foreign moods, fads, or fashions on Americans."

David Rivkin Jr., a conservative Washington attorney, said foreign trends can be helpful to legislators in setting policy, but not to judges in interpreting the U.S. Constitution.

Last month, Ginsburg and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer discussed the death penalty and terrorism with French President Jacques Chirac during a European tour. France outlawed the death penalty in 1981. Ginsburg was one of five justices who attended a conference on the European constitution.

Ginsburg said Saturday that the Internet is making decisions of courts in other countries more readily available in America, and they should not be ignored.

"While you are the American Constitution Society, your perspective on constitutional law should encompass the world," she told the group of judges, lawyers and students. "We are the losers if we do not both share our experiences with and learn from others."

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On the Net:

Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Self-government? What's that?

[solzhenitsyn]

Our island or lone ranger mentality is beginning to change

We're sorry our own Constitution isn't good enough for you, lady.

[veronica]

Wouldn't it be more appropriate for them to look to the US Constitution, or that too quaint a concept for Justice Ginsberg? There is something annoying about her...

[LanPB01]

She's an embarrassment to the legal profession, as if we can't do a good enough job of embarrasing ourselves without interferences from Supreme Court Justices . . .

[HennepinPrisoner]

So basically she is admitting that, like SCOFFLAW, she made law rather than interpret it.

[facedown]

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at the American Constitution Society's first national convention in Washington on Saturday August 2, 2003.

She looks possesed.

[veronica]

She's a card-carrying liberal, right out of Central Casting.

[gunnedah]

That is the problem with America. We have gotten away from the things that made us what we are.How has this country stood for so long? These principles we are now abandoning will lead us to destruction. Americas days of greatness are fast coming to an end. Between liberals and lawyers America is now doomed if we dont have one heck of an awakening.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This is scary. Will Cuba help write our next Supreme Court decision ?

[RicocheT]

Fools on the court like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are why the Republican Senate leadership must break the judicial filibusters.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Get a rope.

[veronica]

This is scary.

Not as scary as what would happpen to the Supreme Court of Hillary! became President and had the chance to pack the court with like-minded sorts. Horrifying...

[LibKill]

Both she and Nancy Pelosi look like the undead to me.

[First Amendment]

And in 2002, the court said that executing mentally retarded people is unconstitutionally cruel. That ruling noted that the practice was opposed internationally.

If someone is smart enough to kill, they are smart enough to die.

"Our island or lone ranger mentality is beginning to change," Ginsburg said during a speech to the American Constitution Society, a liberal lawyers group holding its first convention.

This makes me completely enraged. Who the f**k does she think she is? Why the &@^$& should our country effing kowtow to the kooks and socialists and enemies in other countries to determine OUR constitution? Can someone please get the hook and get rid of this toad? I wish the Republicans in the gov't would stiffen their spines and quite worrying about polls and numbers. Just stand up for principle! Can't justices who say crap like this be impeached? Thrown out?

[facedown]

Both she and Nancy Pelosi look like the undead to me.

Utterly demonic.

[ladylib]

She was interviewed on TV years ago. She can't put a cohesive sentence together. She came off as a complete airhead.

[amexmike]

Has anyone every asked this "Global Visionary" why, if she is so much in favor of other countries reviewing court decisions to alter law into a global interpretation, France has not reviewed our Capital Punishment law and adopted the death penalty? Why is it always a one way street? But if that is the way she wants it why does she never sight these examples:

Islamic law and it's interpretation of Abortion and Homosexuality?

[MamaLucci]

Justices "are becoming more open to comparative and international law perspectives," said Ginsburg, who has supported a more global view of judicial decision making.

The Founders of this nation must be spinning in their graves.

[StriperSniper]

Can't justices who say crap like this be impeached?

Well yes, but it won't happen. The only standard is 'good behavior', and it's up to Congress to determine what that is. Since they also ignore the Constitution, their definition is far different from ours. And that's why it won't happen(not to mention that Congress is full of cowards).