Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Really. In an interview given this week on Egyptian TV, which you can watch here, she says:
You should certainly be aided by all the constitution-writing that has gone one since the end of World War II. I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary... It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done. Much more recent than the US constitution - Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It dates from 1982. You would almost certainly look at the European Convention on Human Rights. Yes, why not take advantage of what there is elsewhere in the world?
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Sep '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Ya, and life up here is just a pip as a result. Phone Mark Steyn. I could scream.
Mar '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Two questions:
1. It may embrace human rights, but what does it regard as the source of human rights?
2. Does the South African constitution exist to merely acknowledge the existence of rights, or does it exist to protect them, not so much from outside forces but from an overbearing government?
It seems to me you can't beat the original.
Mar '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
This is hardly surprising from a nasty old scold who cited Zimbabwe law in one of her decisions.
Sep '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Democracy’s Unelected Lawmakers: Liberal Constitutionalism and Judicial Review in Theory and in Practice
Apr '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
She is unfit to hold her position and in a just America such a statement would prompt impeachment hearings to remove this woman from the court.
If she does not believe in the values of the founding document she is sworn to defend what purpose does she serve other than to undermine it? It would be like a luddite serving as the CEO of Apple.
Jan '12
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Yep, spoken like a true Progressive.
Mar '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Ruth Bader Ginsburg thus reveals that she has no idea how the US Constitution is supposed to work. Our rights are not in there. The protection of our rights from our government is in there. The Constitution is meant to limit the government, not the people.
Hamilton was right: including the Bill of Rights messed up the thought processes of the simpleminded. 223 years later, and they still have it backwards.
Edited on February 3, 2012 at 5:20amOct '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Ruther Bader Ginsburg: Not that great.
May '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Was anyone surprised by this? No? Me neither.
May '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
I find that truly chilling.
Sep '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
That people like this are allowed to buy scissors unsupervised astounds me.
Jan '12
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
I don't believe the Justice is demonstrating a lack of understanding of our constitution in her remarks or she has no idea how it works. She seems to be stating an opinion on the advisability of the Egyptian people modeling their consitution on that of the USA vs. other constitutions existent in the world today.
That said, it is monumentally disturbing that a judge on the highest court in our land has a seemingly negative opinion of the very document that she is responsible judging. She seems to think that government's exist to grant rights, exactly the opposite of what our founding documents declare.
The truly frightening this is that I think she understands the founding principles underlying the constitution and how it is supposed to work but doesn't care and decides cases based on her own feelings about what is "right". This interview provides the best insight yet into understanding her decision making.
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
My sources tell me that Justice Ginsburg continued after the recording ended.
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
GINSBERG; (Chewing bubblegum) The US Constitution is, like, so ... old. The authors are all, like, old, too; dead white men, or whatever. They didn't even have airplanes or iPods or anything. And, like, they were slaveholders who thought African-Americans should be three-fifths of a person and women shouldn't vote. And it's so totally, like, hard for the government to, like, do things to make things better, dontcha think?
END TRANSCRIPT
Sep '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
I wish she'd keep her emanating penumbra under wraps.
Apr '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Regardless of the merits of the constitutions of other states, I would have thought that Justice Gindsberg would have stressed two crucial insights from out Constitution. First, that America’s was the first republican constitution and has been an inspiration for all that have followed. And more critically, the Founders created a government of separated powers which is the only reason that the protections in the Bill of Rights have been honored over 200 years. That crucial insight of Madison and the rest of the founders is the reason that we have a republican government, a reliable rule of law and the protection of civil liberties.
Jul '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
Well that just about says it all. Pass the cyanide.
Sep '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
She was confirmed 96-3, and Judge Bork had 6 Republicans vote against him.
Jul '10
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa.
If I was Matt Drudge:
Ginsburg Opposes Rule of Law, May Favor Carjackings
Apr '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
I'll attempt a defense (for the sake of even handedness). The US constitution is not very specific when it comes to the articles and even in the amendments it often uses language which though elegant often leaves a lot of holes which need interpreting. After all if the constitution where an iron clad document there would not be this nearly Talmudic study of the meaning of its clauses. Things would be spelled out very clearly leaving as little room for interpretation as possible.
Thus something has to be said for writing a very tight document which clearly defines all the powers of the government and the rights of the people. Our constitution in many ways is kind of loose a sketch more than a drawing...Egypt probably needs a set of laws that are very clear and well defined anything less that gives wiggle room will only encourage corruption and abuse...which it already faces in spades. Thus South Africa might be a better model for such a document.
Do not forget Egypt does not have hundreds of years of democratic traditions and social institutions. The new constitution must create these not just shape what is already there.
Mar '11
Re: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egypt: US Constitution Not That Great
and this is why there is now a Tea Party...