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In their decision, the justices are not nearly as eager to cite the Constitution or the Federalist Papers as they are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and a 1930 report from the Select Committee on Capital Punishment from the British House of Commons. They reason that it is "proper" to rely upon the "overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty."

To conclude, Justice Kennedy argued, "it does not lessen our fidelity to the Constitution or our pride in its origins" to take into account the opinions of socialists, third-worlders, and global vagabonds.

But it's not enough to take the Supreme Court to task and give the Congress a pass. Members on the Hill who profess fidelity to the Constitution should set aside opinions of the Court -- such as Roper v. Simmons -- which are so poorly reasoned and rely so heavily on international law. After that, they should consider impeaching justices and judges who tend to place more faith in the Charter of the United Nations than in their own Constitution.

The Supremes, however, have a chance to redeem themselves when Medellin v. Dretke is argued later this month. Jose Ernesto Medellin is a Mexican national who, along with his friends, in June 1993, viciously raped and murdered two teenage girls. Mexico has taken Medellin's case all the way to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and argued that because he was not invited to contact the Mexican embassy after his arrest, he should not be put to death. The ICJ agreed and ordered the United States to review Medellin's case along with 50 other Mexicans on death row in the U.S.

Jose Ernesto Medellin and his friends have exhausted their options for manipulating the Constitution, so they have turned to Kofi's Courts for appeal. Will the justices of the Supreme Court accommodate their request -- or will they "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?"

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Thomas P. Kilgannon is the president of Freedom Alliance, a foundation dedicated to preserving U.S. sovereignty.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.

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