10 April 2009

American Exceptionalism

Since the puritans, America has often envisioned itself as a "city upon a hill," above the riff raff and muck of the rest of the world. At times, this has been true, at others, we are down there in the mire as deep as just about any other country across the globe.

Obama's nominee for legal adviser to the US Department of State brings a refreshing point of view to this perception--Koh appears to be a strong advocate of transnationalism, or the notion that American courts should honor and apply the laws of other nations in our own courts. Now, I readily admit fully applying this theory could have disastrous results, but at least including bodies of foreign law as meaningful precedent should be a more commonly used tactic that we have seen yet in this day and age. As Dean of Yale Law School, Koh seems to be quite competent and up to the job--I hope the difficult confirmation hearings ahead go in his favor.

The Fight Over Harold Koh: News Desk: Online Only: The New Yorker

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