Thursday, September 25, 2008

Feldman: When Judges Make Foreign Policy

Noah Feldman (Harvard Univ. - Law) has an article in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine on "When Judges Make Foreign Policy." Here's a taste:
In the coming presidential election, every voter understands that there is a choice to be made between the foreign-policy visions of John McCain and Barack Obama. What is less obvious, but no less important, is that Supreme Court appointments have become a de facto part of American foreign policy. The court, like the State Department and the Pentagon, now makes decisions in cases that directly change and shape our relationship with the world. And as the justices decide these cases, they are doing as much as anyone to shape America’s fortunes in an age of global terror and economic turmoil.