Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Senator Cornyn's "Daily Question" for Judge Sotomayor:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_06_07-2009_06_13.shtml#1244832220
Senator John Cornyn has announced that he will pose a "daily question"
raised by Judge Sotomayor's record and opinions every business day
from now until the start of the confirmation hearings on July 13. As
the [1]press release explains: "The goal of the Daily Question series
is to encourage a civil discourse that focuses on what is important:
Judge Sotomayor's record and judicial philosophy." Insofar as the
question helps to keep the discussion over Judge Sotomayor focused on
substantive legal questions, this seems like a good idea to me (and
much better than the name-calling and psychoanalyzing that we've seen
in recent weeks).
Today's question is "What is the proper role of foreign and
international law in interpreting the United States Constitution?" In
his release, Senator Cornyn explains how this question has been raised
in some of Judge Sotomayor's speeches and decisions, in particular a
[2]2009 speech before the ACLU of Puerto Rico. Senator Cornyn
concludes:
In my view, the Constitution does not give federal judges the
"freedom of ideas" to devise new ways to limit the democratic
process. Judges must follow the law and the Constitution. They are
not "free" to enact "good ideas" into law when their "creative
juices" flow. That is a job for the people acting through their
elected branches, not a job for judges tasked with following the
law. In light of Judge Sotomayor's address at the ACLU of Puerto
Rico, I hope Judge Sotomayor can explain how she reconciles her
views of foreign and international law with the properly limited
role of the judiciary in a democratic society.
References
1.
http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ForPress.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=d58448d7-802a-23ad-4d13-c106ed0a540a&Region_id=&Issue_id
2.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/06/10/us/politics/1194840839480/speech-to-the-a-c-l-u-of-puerto-rico.html
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