[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5255]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              AMERICAN JUDGES SHOULD ENFORCE AMERICAN LAWS

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court's recent use of 
foreign law as a precedent in several cases is disturbing. This 
judicial activism threatens our Nation's sovereignty. For example, in a 
capital punishment case, a justice cited the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe 
as precedent.
  Zimbabwe is led by a brutal dictator, Robert Mugabe. According to a 
State Department official, ``He has succeeded in reducing a once-
promising nation with a bright future to a state of ruin, desolation, 
and isolation.''
  I hope the Supreme Court in the future will not seek guidance from 
the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe anytime again. Our judges should enforce 
American laws and the United States Constitution, not the laws and 
legal precedents of other countries.
  Mr. Speaker, also, the Subcommittee on Constitutional Law is holding 
a hearing on this very subject right now.

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