Feeney/Goodlatte Resolution Addresses Supreme Court Importation of International Law
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2005
Feeney/Goodlatte Resolution Addresses Supreme Court Importation of International Law
(Washington, D.C.) - Today, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution held hearings into the use of international law by the Supreme Court. Central to the hearing's discussions was a resolution introduced by U.S. Reps. Tom Feeney (R-FL) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). The Feeney/Goodlatte Resolution seeks to address the Court's use of international law in their decisions.
"As The President and the Senate prepare to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, we are embarking on a national civics lesson. How justices choose to interpret the Constitution and its original intent should be central to this discussion. The sovereignty of our nation is jeopardized when justices seek the laws of foreign nations to justify their decisions rather than the original intent of the Constitution," said Feeney.
With increasing frequency the Supreme Court is looking to constitutions, law, and trends of foreign countries when examining cases. To date at least six Justices have cited foreign law in written opinions.
Feeney noted, "Article VI of the U.S. Constitution clearly provides in the Supremacy Clause, 'This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; And all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the Supreme Law of the Land.'
"As the supreme law of the land, the U.S. Constitution exemplifies our nation's independence from foreign law and precedent. The Supreme Court's increasing tendency to refer to international legal standards is a direct contradiction of our founding principles. The American people have not authorized through Congress or through a constitutional amendment the use of foreign laws to establish new law or deny rights here in the United States," said Feeney.
The Feeney/Goodlatte Resolution (H. Res. 97) introduced by Feeney and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) in the 108th Congress and reintroduced in the 109th has 61 cosponsors. The resolution resolves:
"...that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that judicial determinations regarding the meaning of the laws of the United States should not be based in whole or in part on judgments, laws, or pronouncements of foreign institutions unless such foreign judgments, laws, or pronouncements are incorporated into the legislative history of laws passed by the elected legislative branches of the United States or otherwise inform an understanding of the original meaning of the laws of the United States."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/fl24_feeney/IntLawRes.html