Judges & Constitution & Foreign Laws (Limbaugh)

[LiberalFighter]

Yesterday, I caught a bit about windbag complaining about judges making law and basing it on the laws of other countries.

He said that "Rights descend from God."
If rights descend from god then why didn't people have those rights at the very beginning?

Here is a stupid statement of his. "Human rights descend from our creator. We are born with a natural yearning spirit to be free, for example. We are born."

Windbag said that "Activist judges create law."

I don't know of any law that was created by any judge in this country. They have made interpretations of law and ruled on cases based on the law. And they have ruled some laws unconstituional.

"Any time a Supreme Court justice consults foreign law, he is violating the Constitution of the United States, and he's finding a way to get his own personal preferences into American law."

Why shouldn't the SC consult foreign law? How did American law start out? The last I knew it was based on English Common Law. When the Constitution was created James Madison had conducted research prior to the Convention of all the governments current and in the past to determine what form of government would be the best. If windbag's logic is correct then the Constitution should also be thrown out because it was based on governments of foreign countries.

Windbag states that the SC is violating the Constitution when they consult foreign law. What in the Constitution prohibits the SC from doing this? Would he say the same thing about Congress if they consulted foreign law in their pursuit of creating or revising the law? I don't see anything that states expressly that Congress can consult foreign law. But, just like the Judiciary there is nothing that prohibits Congress from consulting foreign law.

Possibly an example of the United States copying foreign law would be women having the right to vote and hold office. It wasn't until 1920 that women had that right.

1893 New Zealand - right to vote only
1902 Australia
1906 Finland
1907 Norway - right to be elected
1913 Norway - full rights
1915 Denmark
1915 Iceland - rights with restrictions
1917 Canada - right to vote with restrictions
1917 Netherlands - right to be elected
1918 Austria, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation
1918 Canada - right to vote with restrictions
1918 Ireland, United Kingdom - rights with restrictions
1919 Belarus, Luxembourg, Ukraine
1919 Belgium - right to vote with restrictions
1919 Netherlands - right to vote
1919 New Zealand - right to be elected
1919 Sweden - rights with restrictions
1920 Albania, Czech Republic, Slovakia
1920 Canada - right to be elected
1920 Iceland - full rights

1920 United States of America - right to vote

[muntrv]

1. I thought Rush didn't go to college, let alone law school.

Put down the pills, rushbo.

[damntexdem]

2. But if rights descend from God, then ...

presumably some of them are to be found in other nations' laws.

[Solon]

3. I guess Rush the windbag is no constitutional expert...

Article VI

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

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; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Granted, this doesn't mean that some local law in Switzerland applies to the United States, but in the HISTORY of jurisprudence, a Judge here can cite such laws or decisions when appropriate. On a more interesting note, any Judge can cite any international agreement the United States has entered for any domestic law that violates the international law, for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or the Geneva Conventions.