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.
Ginsberg should do us all a favor and go away.
Ruth Bader Rosenberg
Judges are ignoring the constitution and have hoisted the black flag of anarchy in the courtrooms.
If this communist can use international law to justify decrees, I can find international law to ignore her dictates.
The U.S. Supreme Court is obligated to honor the U.S. Constitution. It is time for a Constitutional amendment stating that the courts are allowed only to consider the U.S. Constitution and the laws created therefrom in adjudicating cases.
Somebody should inform this agenda driven doofus that the constitution IS frozen in time. Unless amended or rewritten by Constitutional Convention.
I think that many real conservatives (if they would admit their true feelings instead of trying so hard to be politically correct) would admit that there are many well-qualified conservatives out there but are so anxious to keep the White House, they will choose one that they believe would have more "Wow Factor" to the uninterested Americans who spend 5 to 10 days deciding on whom to vote.
IMO NO member of the ACLU -NOR any Judge influenced by the
group of Communists and Communist Dupes ought ever be entrusted to any position of Power either in the Legislative Nor most certainly in that all poweful Judicial
branch of our government.The transmisison belt for Soviet
Communist dictatorship(the ACLU )has NEVER served any greater purpose other than Communism .Inviting ones enemy to
serve in a position of power may sound like a great idea in
the mythical Palastine-but it is a proposition that invites
self destruction. Ginsburg has Nothing relevant to my existance worth hearing.
Lets use her reasoning and try her for treason using, say Saudi Arabian law. One beheading of a SC Justice would go a long way.
She's putting up a challenge: "Impeach me"
We ought to take her up on it.
I believe that's already been done and I've read parts of it in total, abject disgust!!! I think I've seen parts of it posted on FR... anybody???
Very well said. These judges are destroying the rule of law.
Just like the IRS, CONgress has created this Judicial Branch monster and unfortunately will now lack the moral fortitude to put it back in the constitutional box!!!
They've created it and completely passed the buck to it and now they're gonna be too scared to wrest control of it back to themselves!!!
Is this womyn brain dead? Can we rip out her feeding tube yet?
Correct me if I am wrong, but don't these people take an oath of office?
I know what it's like to not be free, and to live in fear of thought police and abusive and corrupt government officials.
I know, too. I went to public school. It was a police state - no liberty, no freedom. One couldn't speak without a censor's eye; I've been punished for legitimate, pure acts of self-defense. I've had my person and property seized without reasonable suspicion, and been forced to testify against myself, without representation, and subject to bills of attainder, conviction without trial, much less a jury, and cruel and unusual punishments, and all that just in the four years from 9th to 12th grades.
Scary is a mild metaphor - This is more like a deathwish.
The showdown over the judicial system will be the political story of 2005. Grab some popcorn.
Our lack of resolve in dealing with issues such as this will lead to the ultimate demise of our nation.
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