Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg tells Egypt: Don't use the U.S. Constitution as a model

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
2/10/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Ginsburg points to countries where people look to government, rather than God for human rights

During a recent trip to Egypt, U.S Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had some advice for the leaders -- don't use the U.S. Constitution as a model in penning your own governing document. Ginsburg traveled to Egypt in late January to meet with that country's judges, legal experts, law professors, and others in Cairo and Alexandria, answering questions about the U.S. legal system and Constitution.

Judge Ginsburg, center, traveled to Egypt in late January to meet with that country's judges, legal experts, law professors, and others in Cairo and Alexandria, answering questions about the U.S. legal system and Constitution.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012." Ginsburg instead pointed to countries whose people look to government - rather than the Almighty - as the creator of their rights.

"I might look at the constitution of South Africa," Ginsburg suggested. "It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done," she said. Ginsburg seemingly turned a blind eye to the nearly one million South Africans who have fled the country since the implementation of "democracy."

Ginsburg suggested such U.N.-modeled documents as the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms implemented by Canada along with the Convention on Human Rights of the European Union, or EU that is in the midst of economic disunity and struggle.

"Yes, why not take advantage of what there is elsewhere in the world?" Ginsburg told her Egyptian audience.

Ginsburg assured told the faculty and students of the university's law school that "this is the most wonderful time in which to live and be among the young people who are helping your country and bringing about change during this exceptional transitional period to a real democratic state. Think of the people who lived before you and did not have this opportunity because they lived under a dictatorial regime. And they did not have the opportunity that you have had to be part of this social transformation."

Alluding to the U.S. Constitution, Ginsburg counseled her audience to do their best "to achieve the goals of this revolution and to continue to strive to create a government of the people, by the people and for the people."

When asked later about the process of drafting a new constitution, Ginsburg was firm. "Let me say first, that a constitution, as important as it is, will mean nothing unless the people are yearning for liberty and freedom," Ginsburg pointed out during a nearly 20-minute interview on Egypt's Al Hayat TV. "If the people don't care, then the best constitution in the world won't make any difference.

The spirit of liberty has to be in the population, and then the constitution . should safeguard basic fundamental human rights, like our First Amendment, the right to speak freely, and to publish freely, without the government as a censor."

Ginsburg's comments received negative reaction from conservatives. Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of the conservative Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law, said that Ginsburg's comments were nothing less than an insult to the venerable document she is commissioned to protect.

"When given the opportunity to promote American liberty abroad, Justice Ginsburg did just the opposite and pointed Egypt in the direction of progressivism and the liberal agenda," Staver said.

"For a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice to speak derisively about the Constitution she is sworn to uphold is distressing, to say the least. Justice Ginsburg's comments about our Constitution undermine the Supreme Court as an institution dedicated to the rule of law, as well as our founding document."

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Judge Ginsburg, U.S. Constituion, Egypt, South Africa

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1 - 7 of 7 Comments

Jim Alcorn
1 year ago
The battle between good and evil will continue until Christ returns, there is good and evil throught the world as well within our own country. It is so very clear to see evil when it speaks, and by their actions, just as one can see love through speech and actions in the good individuals of the world. All one has to do is clearly listen to these evil peoples theology and reasonings to see just how evil and destructive that people like Ginsburg and all her liberals are. I look forward to seeing we Christians unite in the name of our heavenly father and take a stand against such evil in this world. " A government that fears the people you have freedom, a government that the people fear, you have tyranny" words so wisely spoken by Thomas Jefferson. Our founding fathers have such a deeper understanding of what freedoms really mean to us and as a nation, than what this evil person ( Justice Ginsburg) will ever comprehend. If we don't unite and remove people like her from her positions legally, then we will be led down the same destructive path as past Evil governments have done that have led to millions enslaved and/or killed, and everytime this happens it is always led by Evil people.
Jack Sperry
1 year ago
Judge Ginsburg should be arrested as soon as her feet touch American soil. Her sole purpose is to uphold and defend the Constitution of The United States of America. Her words are treasonous. How can we have a Judge of the highest court in our land, who does not believe our constitution is worthy as a framework for liberty. If she is allowed to keep her post, I will be very, very afraid to be a US citizen. The Constitution is not some outdated piece of paper. From one who as actually read it, you would be awed by it's brilliance and timelessness. Most the problems...correction...ALL the problems we face today as a nation could have been avoided by STRICT adherence to the Constitution. Major strays from the Constitution: The Federal Reserve, Undeclared and unconstitutional wars, The Patriot Act (ironic name)and the NDAA, the IRS. Even the way the houses of congress and the senate are run are contrary to the framework laid out in the Constitution. Strict adherence would remove the money from politics and government and these representatives would once again be "public servants" in the way it was supposed to be. A judge that would bash our Constitution on foreign soil, should be removed from her position. The sooner, the better!
David Carlon
1 year ago
Ginsburg is a shiny example of an educated fool... Moses just plucked the last hair on his holy head... oy!
Jim Montagnino
1 year ago
Justice Ginsburg's comments are deeply troubling. As a Catholic and as an attorney who has worked in the judiciary for seventeen years, I would hope that a Judge of our highest Court would encourage Egyptian attorneys and intellectuals to look for inspiration to our Constitution. Can Justice Ginsburg point to any other nation on earth that enjoys the same freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly as the United States? Particularly where signs indicate the disturbing possibilities that the Muslim Brotherhood might push Egypt to become an Islamic theocracy and its military leaders might seek to withhold such freedoms as the right to peaceable assembly, a member of our highest Court should be urging Egyptians to embrace the ideals of our Constitution, which has prevented the establishment of a state religion and has guaranteed individual freedoms for more than two centuries.
Bulbajer
1 year ago
Did Judge Ginsburg mention WHY she didn't lthink the US Constitution would be a good example? I'm finding a lot of news articles on Google about her quote (one of which uses a lot of the wording that this article does, though it was published four days earlier), but I can't find exactly what she meant. And what was wrong with the Constitution of South Africa?!!! The current constitution was promulgated by Nelson Mandela! Also, what does the author mean by putting the word democracy in quotes when talking about South Africa?
Martinshushu
1 year ago
Please recall the US constitution was written in ink by hand on a piece of paper. It was not carved on stone tablets brought down a mountain in Egypt by some bearded old beggar. The US constitution is not sacrosanct. The citizens of the US can change it any time they wish. The US constitution is not even humane or well written. It upholds slavery and all the horrors of war.
paulben
1 year ago
Satan has his agents on the Supreme Court and in the White House, what else can we expect from them?

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