Old W(h)ine, Old Bottles: A Reply to Professor Paulsen

Authors

Margaret E. McGuiness, St. John's University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Reply

Publication Title

The Yale Law Journal Online

Publication Date

2009

Volume

119

First Page

31

Abstract

(Excerpt)

International law is “everywhere” in the United States: informing state CO2 emissions standards; providing inspiration for local civil rights codes; and overseeing the more than three trillion dollars in annual trade in goods, to name just a few examples. A reader of Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen’s essay, The Constitutional Power To Interpret International Law, might be forgiven for missing these important trends, because rather than focus on the ubiquity of international law and the myriad ways in which it has permeated U.S. legal, social, economic, and political life, Paulsen returns us to old arguments over whether international law is “law” or presents any binding restraints on domestic actors. This claim is based on a static, formalist approach to the foreign affairs Constitution that stands in contrast to the dynamic realities of transnational lawmaking today.

Comments

Available at: https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/old-whine-old-bottles-a-reply-to-professor-paulsen