Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
Summary
As we have seen, the Constitution as a treaty established a U.S. federal court system that is an international court system with interstate and national dimensions. Accordingly, federal judicial power is enabled and governed by international law. An international legal construction of Article III federal judicial authority enables federal courts to review the compatibility of federal and state law with the Constitution and provides a better justification of such authority. Moreover, an international legal construction of federal judicial authority in conformity the Non Liquet Prohibition Principle also ensures that the exercise of such judicial review authority when using both Article III and extra–Article III international legal authorities is not judicial activism.
Most importantly, federal courts often must use those Article III and extra–Article III international legal authorities that provide the most liberal construction to the United States' and its member-states' federal and nonfederal international legal obligations. In doing so, federal courts will further integrate U.S. constitutional law with other international law – an important policy objective in a globalized world that seeks the uniformity of law and the reduction of transaction costs associated with nonuniformity.
One important conclusion about the general nature of international law as a whole appears to be emerging: there is a diminishing space in which international actors – such as federal courts – can act without supervision by international law.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Constitution as TreatyThe International Legal Constructionalist Approach to the U.S. Constitution, pp. 207 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007