Home | About | RSS Feed | Contact and Publicity Guidelines | Comment Policy the Law, the Universe, and Everything 

Search


Concurring Opinions is a
general-interest legal blog
operated by Concurring
Opinions LLC, a Pennsylvania
Limited Liability Corporation.

jr_114_9780195367195_bnr

jr_114_9780195383768_bnr

advertise-here4


FC-CO(SS)

Our Podcast

Subscribe to Law Talk

law-rev-contents2.jpg


  • Posts by Author

  • Categories

  • Archives


  • Recent Comments

    • A.J. Sutter on Doe v. Wal-Mart: Must Common Law be Reformed to Protect Workers?

    • fau on Public opinion on same-sex marriage

    • Mike Zimmer on From the other side at AALS . . .

    • Mike Zimmer on The Employer’s Strategy in Gross v. FBL Financials

    • Mike Zimmer on Drafting the 28th Amendment

    • M.G.M on Drafting the 28th Amendment

    • A.J. Sutter on Lawyers: Don’t Trade on Inside Information!

    • No Load Funds on Consumer Financial Product Safety?

    • grad student on Princeton and the Behavioral Revolution

    • Anon321 on The Passive Voice in Statutory Interpretation

    • Steven Kaminshine on The Employer’s Strategy in Gross v. FBL Financials

    • Alex Kreit on Politicians: Have you talked to your constituents about drug policy?

    • Alex Kreit on Election Night 2009

    • mikeb302000 on Election Night 2009

    • Neal Goldfarb on The Passive Voice in Statutory Interpretation

  •  

    Site Meter

Parting words from Justice Scalia

posted by Melissa Waters

scalia.jpgThe time has come for me to say farewell to the CoOp community — I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a guest blogger, and hope to visit again sometime soon.

As much of my blogging over the last month has been on the controversy over the use of foreign and international law in U.S. courts (see here and here), I thought it would be appropriate in my “farewell” blog to give Justice Scalia the last word. His diatribes against foreign and international law have inspired various Congressional attempts to legislate against the practice: A Senate bill, for example, would forbid federal judges from citing “any constitution, law, administrative rule, Executive order, directive, policy, judicial decision, or any other action of any foreign state or international organization or agency, other than English constitutional and common law up to the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States.” So what does the Justice himself think about his Congressional fan club?

Not much, apparently. The Washington Post reports today that Justice Scalia chastised Congress for sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong. “It’s none of your business. No one is more opposed to the use of foreign law than I am, but I’m darned if I think it’s up to Congress to direct the court how to make its decisions.” The pending legislation, Scalia complained, “is like telling us not to use certain principles of logic.” And he concluded, “Let us make our little mistakes just as we let you make yours.”

As surprised as I am to find myself in agreement with him, I say, “Amen, Justice Scalia.” In my view, the jury is still out on whether it’s a “mistake” to rely on foreign and international law in constitutional interpretation — but surely this is something for our judges to decide for themselves. America is blessed with one of the strongest judiciaries in the world, and we can trust them to figure this out on their own. Congress should leave them alone and let them do their jobs.

And on that note, I’ll sign off for now. Many thanks to all those who have debated this and other issues with me over the past month. I have learned much from your comments, and look forward to continuing the dialogue in the future.


 May 19, 2006 at 11:22 am   Posted in: International & Comparative Law   Print This Post Print This Post

Responses (5)

  1. Elder Don - May 19, 2006 at 5:11 pm

    I agree with Scalia. Congress should do its job of confirming Bush nominees to the courts, and then we won’t have to worry about whether the courts cite foreign law.

  2. Daniel J. Solove - May 19, 2006 at 8:54 pm

    Melissa — Thanks for your visit and your excellent posts!

    Dan

  3. Dave Hoffman - May 20, 2006 at 12:12 am

    Indeed, thanks for visiting Melissa – I’ve learned alot from your posts!

  4. Mike S. - May 20, 2006 at 10:01 pm

    Thanks, Melissa, for the awesome posts and commentary on international law and the courts. Informative, indeed!

  5. Charles F. Weeks, Esquire - May 23, 2006 at 10:54 am

    The problem is that our judiciary is too strong, legislating when it should just adhere to the language of the law!! If you can not understand why current foreign law is irrelevant to our Constitution, you should not aspire to be an attorney, much less a judge. Said practice borders on treason, as well as constituting a total non sequitur. I notice SCOTUS does not cite foreign law in abortion cases, because they would have to overrule the ridiculous Roe v. Wade decision. Foreign law citation is just manipulated to reach the result Ginsburg et al want when they can’t find basis for it in US Law!! What a joke!! Do they really think we are that gullible?

Leave a Reply

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Click to hear an audio file of the anti-spam word


  • « Previous post
  • Next post »

Authors

Daniel J. Solove

Website
Understanding Privacy

Kaimipono Wenger

Website
SSRN Page

Dave Hoffman

Website
SSRN Page

Nate Oman

Website
SSRN Page

Frank Pasquale

Website
SSRN Page

Deven Desai

Website
SSRN Page

Danielle Citron

Website
SSRN Page

Lawrence Cunningham

Website
SSRN Page

Sarah Waldeck

Website
SSRN Page

Jaya Ramji-Nogales

Website
SSRN Page

Solangel Maldonado

Website
SSRN Page

Gerard Magliocca

Website
SSRN Page


Guests

Rachel Godsil
Alex Kreit
Anita Krishnakumar
Matthew Sag
Michael Zimmer






Previous Guests

Michael Abramowicz
Michelle Adams
Robert Ahdieh
Michelle Anderson
Laura Appleman
Ann Bartow
Francesca Bignami
Jeremy Blumenthal
Kathleen Boozang
Bruce Boyden
Donald Braman
Al Brophy
Neil H. Buchanan
Bill Burke-White
Scott Burris
Paul Butler
Naomi Cahn
Anupam Chander
Miriam Cherry
Jack Chin
Jennifer Collins
Allison Danner
Brannon Denning
Deven Desai
Mike Dimino
Mark Edwards
David Fagundes
Christine Haight Farley
Kim Ferzan
Dan Filler
Michael Froomkin
Amanda Frost
Timothy Glynn
Rachel Godsil
Eric Goldman
David Gray
Craig Green
Tristin Green
Jeffrey Harrison
Erica Hashimoto
Carissa Hessick
Laura Heymann
Robert Hillman
Christine Hurt
Darian Ibrahim
John Ip
Kevin Johnson
Dan Kahan
Brian Kalt
Sam Kamin
Michael Kang
Chimène Keitner
Orin Kerr
Nancy Kim
Heidi Kitrosser
Adam Kolber
Russell Korobkin
Anita S. Krishnakumar
Susan Kuo
Greg Lastowka
Sarah Lawsky
Erik Lillquist
Jeff Lipshaw
Jonathan Lipson
Jacqueline Lipton
Joseph Liu
Michael Madison
Solangel Maldonado
Jason Mazzone
Linda McClain
William McGeveran
Salil Mehra
Carrie Menkel-Meadow
Max Minzner
Scott Moss
Eric Muller
Jaya Ramji-Nogales
Helen Norton
Elizabeth Nowicki
Paul Ohm
Michael O'Shea
David Opderback
Kristen Osenga
Rafael Pardo
Marcy Peek
Eduardo Peñalver
Robert Percival
David Post
Shruti Rana
Geoffrey Rapp
Neil Richards
Lori Ringhand
Alice Ristroph
Susan Scafidi
Paul Secunda
Jonathan Siegel
Jessica Silbey
Peter Smith
Charles Sullivan
Rick Swedloff
Steph Tai
Andrew Taslitz
Robert Tsai
Jenia Turner
Steve Vladeck
Sarah Waldeck
Melissa Waters
Alfred Yen
David Zaring
Timothy Zick
Spencer Weber Waller
Howard Wasserman
Frank Wu
Corey Yung
Jonathan Zittrain

Blogroll

Above the Law
ACS Blog
Althouse
Balkinization
Becker-Posner Blog
BlackProf
BoingBoing
Chicago Law Faculty Blog
Conglomerate
CrimLaw
Crime & Federalism
CrimProf Blog
Crooked Timber
Discourse.net
Dorf on Law
Election Law
Emergent Chaos
The Faculty Lounge
Feminist Law Profs
43(B)log
Freakonomics Blog
Freedom to Tinker
Google Blogoscoped
How Appealing
Ideoblog
Info/Law
Instapundit.com
Juris Novus
Jurisdynamics
Law and Humanities Blog
Law and Letters
Law Librarian Blog
Legal Profession Blog
Legal Theory Blog
Legal Times Blog
Leiter Reports
Brian Leiter's Law School Reports
Lessig Blog
Madisonian Theory
Media Law Blog
Mirror of Justice
The Moderate Voice
National Security Advisors
Opinio Juris
Point of Law
PrawfsBlawg
ProfessorBainbridge.com
Property Prof Blog
Red Tape Chronicles
The Right Coast
Schneier on Security
SCOTUSBlog
Security Dilemmas
Sentencing Law and Policy
Simple Justice
Sivacracy.net
The Situationist
Susan Crawford
TalkLeft
Talking Points Memo
TaxProf Blog
Tech & Marketing Law
Truth on the Market
Volokh Conspiracy
WorkPlace Prof Blog
WSJ Law Blog
Wonkette
The Yin Blog


© Concurring Opinions

Powered by WordPress