The Wit And Wisdom Of Chief Justice Roberts

I like my wine French, my beer German, my vodka Russian, and my judicial system American.

– Chief Justice John Roberts, quoted in the Washingtonian Magazine.

6 thoughts on “The Wit And Wisdom Of Chief Justice Roberts

  1. Yeah, but how much do you wanna bet he’s got a full set of Blackstone’s there on his bookshelf?

    As an aside, which Justice of the Supreme Court quotes the most foreign law of any of the current bench?

    Surprisingly, it’s Scalia.

    If you’re an originalist like him, the old English common law is very relevant to American law. For instance, Rylands v. Fletcher, 159 Eng. Rep. 737, 1865 is still cited frequently in American court cases dealing with abnormally dangerous activities and tort liability. American common law derives from English common law, so it’s not uncommon for American cases to cite pre-Revolution English cases or even subsequent English cases.

  2. If you’re an originalist like him, the old English common law is very relevant to American law.

    Which is why the sweeping rejection of international law so popular among a certain crowd is so ridiculous.

  3. So once a law student was to take an exam. He entered the room and protested there was no red wine available. He was entitled, based on a many century old precedent, to a pint of red wine during the exams. He cited the precedent and he had to be compensated with a full honour credits for that exam since the university violated his rights.

    Next year the lecturer dismissed the student immediately from the exam room, according to another ancient precedent. The law student failed the exam because he didn’t wear his sword.

  4. Which is why the sweeping rejection of international law so popular among a certain crowd is so ridiculous.

    Except that international law has no force in American common law, and many principles of international law are completely at odds with the US Constitution. For instance, the US can never legally ratify the Treaty of Rome because the International Criminal Court’s version of criminal procedure doesn’t have the same standards as the American one — and as the Supreme Court already held in Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1954), no treaty can supersede the US Constitution.

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