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Justice Breyer: Use of Foreign Materials Is 'Going to Happen'
Legal Times
June 25, 2008
It's not such a bad idea to look at foreign legal decisions, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told his audience of about 150 at the Brookings Institution Tuesday. In fact, American judges might just learn something.
"These foreign judges have jobs like me, they interpret documents just like me, so why shouldn't I read these decisions? They aren't binding to me," Breyer says.
Despite criticism from those who argue that turning to foreign courts for guidance impinges on the sovereignty of the U.S. Supreme Court, Breyer says that the use of international materials is going to occur regardless of complaints. "It's the nature of the human mind to impose structure on madness, and that's the case with law. The fact is that this sharing of legal ideas is continuing despite it being debated in Congress and in the public. It's going to happen," Breyer says.
Breyer says that as the world continues to establish more and more international bodies with legislative and adjudicatory powers, such as the World Trade Organization and the International Court of Justice, there is little choice but to start incorporating foreign ideas into the framework of decisions, especially when lawyers point them out to the justices.
"We can't read every law in every country, but when they're brought to our attention, why not read those laws? You might learn something," he says. "Besides what happens abroad is so interesting."
First reported in The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times
