This is the second time she has made reference to the actions and rulings of foriegn courts being relevant to American law.
Fuck her. As the Supreme Court stands today she is to rule on twhether or not a law is constitutional, and foreign courts have no corelation to our Constitution. G-d Damn internationalists. She shoudl be removed and disbarred.

www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41143
WASHINGTON – Judges would be negligent if they disregarded the growing role of international law in U.S. courts, asserted Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a speech today at Georgetown Law School.

It was the second time O'Connor has made a point of affirming the place of international law in U.S. courts.

O'Connor said the Supreme Court is taking more cases that demand a better understanding of foreign legal systems and procedures. She cited, as a recent example, terror cases involving the U.S. detention of foreign-born detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"International law is no longer a specialty," said the appointee of President Reagan. "It is vital if judges are to faithfully discharge their duties. Since Sept. 11, 2001, we're reminded some nations don't have the rule of law or (know) that it's the key to liberty."

Later this term, the Supreme Court is scheduled to decide the constitutionality of executing juvenile killers – a case that has attracted wide interest overseas, with many foreign nations filing briefs pointing to international human rights norms as a justification for banning the practice. O'Connor did not specifically mention the case.

She said recognizing international law could foster more civilized societies in the United States and abroad.

"International law is a help in our search for a more peaceful world," said O'Connor.

At least five members of the current U.S. Supreme Court align themselves with O'Connor's position that international law has a role in U.S. courts.

In 2003, Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the American Constitution Society her colleagues are looking beyond America's borders for guidance in handling cases on issues like the death penalty and homosexual rights.

In a decision earlier that year in a Texas case in which anti-sodomy laws were overruled, the justices first referred to the findings of foreign courts. The year before, the court said executing mentally retarded people is unconstitutionally cruel, noting the practice was opposed internationally. Ginsburg cited an international treaty in her vote in 2003 to uphold the use of race in college admissions.

She said, "Our island or lone-ranger mentality is beginning to change." Justices, she added, "are becoming more open to comparative and international law perspectives."

Ginsburg, O'Connor and Stephen Breyer discussed the death penalty and terrorism with French President Jacques Chirac during a European tour that included a conference on the European constitution that same year. France outlawed the death penalty in 1981. Five members of the court attended the conference.

"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."

Ginsburg also tipped that the Internet is making it easier for the justices to keep up with the decisions of foreign courts.

Earlier, a New York Times story explained that extensive foreign travel has made both Anthony Kennedy and O'Connor "more alert" to how their peers on other constitutional courts see similar issues.

"Justices have always traveled, teaching or taking part in seminars," the story said. "But these are trips with a difference."

The story said Ginsburg, Breyer, O'Connor and Kennedy have held extensive sessions with judges in Europe. Kennedy, it said, has met with numerous Chinese judges – both in the United States and in China. O'Connor has been involved in the American Bar Association's reform initiative in Eastern Europe.

"With emerging democracies groping toward the rule of law, with colleagues on the federal bench volunteering for constitution-writing duties in Iraq, it is not surprising that the justices have begun to see themselves as participants in a worldwide constitutional convention," the New York Times story said ominously.

Not all of the justices agree, however. In his dissent in the Texas sodomy case, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the court should not "impose foreign moods, fads or fashions on Americans."

Reagan appointed the dumb cunt.

CRC

"International law is a help in our search for a more peaceful world," said O'Connor

Grrr...this is the shit that the forefathers warned us about!

Quoted: "International law is a help in our search for a more peaceful world," said O'Connor

Odd. Why should the most peaceful, strong and propserous nation on Earth look outward for such "help" while nations less so, who are a comparative failure, feel no such obligation. Instead, we are to emulate them??

This type of thinking is leftist to the core.

The (t)reasoning goes no deeper than this:

International = good.
American = simpleminded, provincial, bad.

I'm one of the biggest Reagan admireres around... but he really screwed the pooch appointing her.  

Want more of these folks?

Vote Kerry.

CRC

Anyone not think that someday we're going to have to use the Second to take back this nation?

The people that created our system of government KNEW it would be needed.

I can't understand why she supported Bush in 2000 during the election debacle only to reference international law applying to US law?

Quoted: Anyone not think that someday we're going to have to use the Second to take back this nation? The people that created our system of government KNEW it would be needed.

Perhaps that is the meaning behind Thomas Jefferson's quote reagrding liberty trees and the blood of tyrants.

Quoted: Anyone not think that someday we're going to have to use the Second to take back this nation? The people that created our system of government KNEW it would be needed.

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GM

Can this fucking one world gov't bitch be recalled or petitioned out, or are we gonna have to eat a big shit sandwich until she dies????

Judges are too jaded, too removed from accountability. If you think about it, they answer to no one in practical terms, save for the slim-to-none chance of being impeached. Not being subject to checks makes it far too easy for them to ride off on a lofty cloud & spin some high-minded platitudes over tea w/ fellow 'elites'. This is all just too much. There's no Constitutional precedence for the SCOTUS deferring to 'international' anything where the law of the land is concerned.

PC infecting the SC is a bad sign; Constitutional necrosis can't be too far behind.

God, forgive me for saying this, but.....

THE WRONG JUSTICE HAS CANCER!

I'm going to slither off and calm down, now......

Which four is it that will be replaced during this next pres term? Are they conservative or lib? If libs the new appointments could be a good thing . I heard this on the radio.

"International law is a help in our search for a more peaceful world," said O'Connor.

Arg!

Quoted: Grrr...this is the shit that the forefathers warned us about!

I see a second american revolution one day.

Quoted: I'm one of the biggest Reagan admireres around... but he really screwed the pooch appointing her.

Reagan was a great man, and a great president, but wasn't he also responsible for doing the last minute lobbying which convinced several people in Congress to vote for Clinton's AWB ?