Ginsburg’s Prerogative
April 12th, 2009 at 9:29 am by BrianFortunate Memeorandum News Coupling Of The Day:
From The New York Times piece on Ginsburg’s love of being influenced by foreign law:
“I frankly don’t understand all the brouhaha lately from Congress and even from some of my colleagues about referring to foreign law,” Justice Ginsburg said in her comments on Friday.
The court’s more conservative members — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — oppose the citation of foreign law in constitutional cases.
“If we’re relying on a decision from a German judge about what our Constitution means, no president accountable to the people appointed that judge and no Senate accountable to the people confirmed that judge,” Chief Justice Roberts said at his confirmation hearing. “And yet he’s playing a role in shaping the law that binds the people in this country.”
Justice Ginsburg said the controversy was based on the misunderstanding that citing a foreign precedent means the court considers itself bound by foreign law as opposed to merely being influenced by such power as its reasoning holds.
“Why shouldn’t we look to the wisdom of a judge from abroad with at least as much ease as we would read a law review article written by a professor?” she asked.
“Wisdom of a judge abroad” is apparently in the eye of the beholder:
Saudi judge upholds man’s marriage to 8-year-old
A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge’s ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said.
Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage.
The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother’s petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world.
The judge said the mother, who is separated from the girl’s father, was not the legal guardian and therefore could not represent her daughter, the mother’s lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said at the time.
The girl’s husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl’s father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered “a close friend.”
What’s not to love about “international law”? It runs the gamut to a whole range of ideas considered ‘crazy’ in this country but who knows!?! One day may we learn to be as enlightened as Justice Ginsburg.
When it comes to the cafeteria-style application of foreign law, I imagine that we are to chivalrously defer to Ruth’s prerogative to see our law more like old Europe rather than establishing a precedent that could just as easily allow someone to see our law interpreted through the veiled eyes of sharia.
Predictably, Ginsburg played the gender card which she both created and posed for.
Justice Ginsburg also discussed her career as an advocate, one that included six Supreme Court arguments and a role in shaping the language of the law. She helped introduce the term “gender discrimination” as a synonym for “sex discrimination,” she said, explaining that her secretary had proposed the idea while typing a brief to be submitted to male judges.
“ ‘The first association of those men with the word “sex” is not what you’re talking about,’ ” the secretary said, Justice Ginsburg recalled. “ ‘Why don’t you use a grammar-book term? Use gender. It has a neutral sound, and it will ward off distracting associations.’ ”
Justice Ginsburg expressed dismay at being the only woman on the Supreme Court. “There I am all alone,” she said, “and it doesn’t look right.”
She’s correct. It doesn’t look right. She never should have been put in that position in the first place as her wounded badge has rendered her incapable of understanding the job description.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:42 am
We can thank Billary Clinton for that POS.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:54 am
The one woman I am confident did not wander into a Clinton Administration position on her kneecaps.
Having said that, being a fan of old Alfred Hitchcock films, I don’t believe she’s been better in any role than she was playing Norman Bates’ mother.
April 12th, 2009 at 11:25 am
..she was hilarious in her recurring role in ‘Laugh In’..
April 12th, 2009 at 11:45 am
i just came over to the comments page and realized that maybe i took the topic too seriously, gauged by the previous humorous attributions.
i’m struggling… this is HAY-yooge news (nay, dare i say, “journalism”) that i probably would never have received otherwise. in and of itself, this information makes me want to travel (yet again) to jefferson’s tomb and weep.
clowns and pigs — for the most part — wear the robes of the court these days. and neither do justice to democracy. ‘tragic’ doesn’t even come close…
April 12th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
It’s serious enough. Ginsburg is a judicial activist and was chosen to be. We were just sold another bill of goods based on this particular Wisdom of A Judge (A Broad).
Clarence Thomas is continuously ridiculed by leftists who contend that the only reason he got his job was his skin color but the same would nary utter a syllable about Ginsburg’s gender getting her a gavel.
BTW, it’s been a while since I checked in on your photostream Nate. You’ve got a great eye. We all might need a safe place to land if the U.S. goes up in flames. We can’t even shoo away some pirates with our new Pansy-In-Chief.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Snark aside, liberals constantly undermine their dogma due to a lack of moral bearings. It’s damn serious because these people view the Constitution as ever changing with new rules today and new rules tomorrow. We saw Specter invoke ‘Scottish law’ during impeachment to justify something nonexistant in our law. Ginsburg, Breyer, et al, can indulge in these judicial fantasies on their whims as the courts have become rule by fiat thus begetting staris decisis based on whole cloth edicts. Elections have consequences and Ginsburg’s replacement will be far worse, sad to say. Absent armed insurrection against the tyranny that is ongoing we are at the mercy of these tards. To cope with this madness I rely on a little brevity to get me through it..
April 12th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
..let me add this smells like sharia creep,a malady rearing its ugly head in Britain. Soon this court will hear a case similar to the Saudi case that is 180 degrees from our laws and traditions but because Muslims are involved the Supremes will defer to this very precedent..
April 20th, 2009 at 12:02 am
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