NCJ Number
129563
Date Published
1991
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The United States can and should be part of an international legal system that regards respect for human rights as a binding obligation at the international level; it is consistent, also, to rely primarily on domestic court application of domestic legal norms to comply with international human rights obligations.
Abstract
For the purposes of this essay, the concept of human rights includes only rights against government intrusion and abuse that all humans have, regardless of jurisdiction and time. The existence of international human rights law does not make such law ipso facto applicable in U.S. courts. U.S. courts do not generally apply public international law directly in the way they apply the U.S. Constitution and constitutional statutes. Public international law is applied by American courts in a number of significant but limited ways, each of which permits ultimate determination of international law issues by the political branches. Self-executing treaties of the United States are the law of the land under the Constitution, and executive agreements have a similar status. Also, courts should, if possible, interpret statutes as consistent with international law. Where Federal courts have jurisdiction over a dispute between parties but neither the legislative nor the executive branch has provided a substantive basis for resolving the dispute, international law is an appropriate source of law. Also, Congress may incorporate customary international law by statutory reference. In this circumstance, Congress has in effect delegated the determination of international law to the courts. 44 notes