HSLDA	May 2, 2005

Protect Parents - Reject the Use of International Law by American Courts

America is a unique nation as well as being governed by a written constitution. Most foreign nations are governed differently. However, most nations also belong to the United Nations and the other members of the United Nations often choose to accept the conventions and treaties produced by the U.N. Two conventions which are of particular relevance to homeschoolers are the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention to End All Discrimination Against Women, treaties that the United States Senate has not ratified. Furthermore, the Constitution considers any treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate and signed by the President the "Supreme law of the land," or equal with our Constitution. These treaties would vastly impact parental rights in the areas of homeschooling, spanking, and religious education, if the United States were to ratify them. For now, these restrictions are not a part of America's system and with your help, HSLDA is working hard to keep it that way.

Unfortunately, many American judges are relying on foreign rulings to determine their decisions on domestic American cases. If the courts continue on their present trend, judges may soon consider these un-ratified treaties as authoritative in their judgments.

To begin to address this problem on March 20, 2005, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced Senate Resolution 92, which would express the "Sense of the Senate" that American courts should not be influenced by decisions in foreign courts.

On the floor of the Senate, he expressed concerns over "a trend regarding the potential influence of foreign governments and foreign courts in the application and enforcement of U.S. law."

"Our Founding Fathers," he said, "fought the Revolutionary War precisely to stop foreign governments from telling us what our laws say….Citing foreign law in order to overrule U.S. policy offends democracy, because foreign lawmaking is in no way accountable to the American people."

Senator Cornyn expressed the spirit behind the Declaration of Independence and highlighted problematic Supreme Court rulings of recent years. The courts, he said, have "actually rejected its own prior precedents, in part because a foreign government or court has expressed its disagreement with those precedents."

He referred to the 2002 Atkins v. Virginia ruling in which the Supreme Court ruled that the state could not impose the death penalty upon criminals who are known to be mentally retarded. The Court did this "in part because the Court was concerned about ‘the world community' and the views of the European Union" and in direct opposition to prior court rulings.

Cornyn also pointed to Lawrence v. Texas in which the same court decided that "the state of Texas could no longer decide whether its criminal justice system may fully reflect the moral values of the people of Texas" and the decision was based, in part, on the European Court of Human Rights.

As Cornyn's legislation sits in Committee, the Republican members of the Senate are working to see two of President Bush's judicial nominees confirmed. The Democrats, with a 44-member minority, promise a filibuster against Janice Brown and Priscilla Owen now that the Senate Judiciary Committee has endorsed the two nominees. The battle to seat judges who will defend the U.S. Constitution rather than look to international law has reached new heights.

In his first term, President Bush made 51 Circuit Court nominations but only 35 were actually confirmed; at 69%, President Bush had the lowest percentage of confirmations since President Truman, according to the Congressional Research Service. His attempts to see America's courts filled with qualified appointments have been consistently thwarted and the filibuster threats are only a continuation of the battle.

"If America is to survive as a government by the people and for the people, we need a court system whose decisions reflect the original intent of the Constitution and not the current views of foreign governments." said Caleb Kershner HSLDA's Manager of Federal Policy and Research. "By introducing a Resolution that rejects consideration of foreign law by American courts, Senator Cornyn is raising a critical issue confronting the freedom and sovereignty of all American's today."