In a talk yesterday at the American Bar Association annual meeting, Justice Stephen Breyer gave an intriguing reason why he thinks the U.S. Supreme Court should cite foreign law: It can give “a little boost” to the judiciaries of other countries, helping to advance the rule of law outside the United States. Here’s what Breyer said, in the course of justifying the practice of citing foreign law:
“To tell you the truth, in some of these countries, they’re just trying to create these independent judicial systems to protect human rights, contracts. If we cite them sometimes — not as binding, I promise, not as binding –well, that gives them a little boost sometimes . . . It sort of gives them a leg up for the rule of law.”
This reminds me a bit of the remarks by Justice Stevens in May suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court should cite foreign courts to make sure that the U.S. Supreme Court remains influential outside our borders. It also seems to be another piece of evidence supporting the “shout out” theory of citing foreign courts offered by Professor (and former Breyer clerk) Tim Wu in Slate last year.
Your thoughts?
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