Joint Study Institute 2008
Harmonization and Confrontation: Integrating Foreign and International Law into the American Legal System

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Georgetown University Law School Tower Green. Photo: © Sam Kittner.

Programs

Programs for the 2008 Joint Study Institute, Harmonization and Confrontation: Integrating Foreign and International Law into the American Legal System, focus on the long standing conflicts among U.S. courts regarding the examination and use of international law in court decisions.

As recently as 2005, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority in Roper v. Simmons, wrote that international law "instructs," but does not control, the Court's interpretation of evolving standards of decency. Justice Kennedy highlighted the U.S.'s isolation in continuing to execute juvenile offenders, stated that the overwhelming international consensus was against this practice and noted that the execution of juveniles violated several international treaties.

Justice Antonin Scalia rejected the Court's use of international law to buttress its finding of a national consensus, stating that the "acknowledgement" of foreign approval has no place in the legal opinion of the Court.

Programs will explore issues relating to the influence of foreign and international law in the jurisprudence of the United States, the relationship of the law of the individual states to federal law, the impact of the "war on terror" on jurisprudence, and other issues related to the impact of foreign and international law on the United States.