Document Type
Essay
Publication Date
2004
Publication Information
44 Va. J. Int'l L. 913 (2004).
Abstract
Last year, in the pages of this journal, I published an article addressing the role of international tribunal decisions in federal courts.1 In that article, it was suggested that federal courts should confer varying degrees of deference to international tribunal decisions depending on the circumstances presented. Such degrees of deference were plotted along a "continuum of deference." See: Federal Courts, International Tribunals, and the Continuum of Deference
The purpose of this brief Postscript is to reconsider the "no deference" model in light of the Supreme Court's decisions in Bowers and Lawrence. The Postscript elucidates why Lawrence relied on an international decision to overrule Bowers and contends that, depending on one's interpretation, Lawrence may signal the demise of the "no deference" model in constitutional adjudication. It concludes with a prediction that it will not.
Recommended Citation
Roger P. Alford,
Federal Courts, International Tribunals, and the Continuum of Deference: A Postscript on Lawrence v. Texas,
44 Va. J. Int'l L. 913 (2004)..
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1622