MEMRI TV
Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egyptians: Don’t use our Constitution as a model
You should certainly be aided by all the constitution-writing that has gone one since the end of World War II. I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary… It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done. Much more recent than the US constitution – Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It dates from 1982. You would almost certainly look at the European Convention on Human Rights. Yes, why not take advantage of what there is elsewhere in the world?
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Very lovely, Ruth.
Lovely.
blatantblue on February 2, 2012 at 11:03 PM
Surprise. Lefty Supreme doesn’t think our Constitution is adequate.
andy85719 on February 2, 2012 at 11:05 PM
She’s absolutely right.
In the same vein, I would suggest that prospective writers take their inspiration from the works of Stephanie Meyer instead of Milton, Shakespeare, and Dante. After all, everything newer is better.
Good Solid B-Plus on February 2, 2012 at 11:07 PM
I’d nominate judges like Ginsburg – Romney
lorien1973 on February 2, 2012 at 11:07 PM
Uh, huh.
WolvenOne on February 2, 2012 at 11:08 PM
Thanks Ruth! I’m sure they’ll listen to a woman this time around.
txhsmom on February 2, 2012 at 11:08 PM
This makes me sad.
BardMan on February 2, 2012 at 11:08 PM
And this woman is one of the nine final arbiters of the confusing old Constitution that was written over a hundred years ago.
Can’t wait for the day this harridan steps down from the Court.
deepelemblues on February 2, 2012 at 11:08 PM
is it really that inaccurate when i say that leftists don’t love ‘Merica?
Donald Draper on February 2, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Well, at least she practices what she preaches.
boone on February 2, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Because everywhere else in the world is well renowned for the consistency of their government, stability, and respect for the rule of law.
(With apologies to the single foreign country that does match our respect for the rule of law, Great Britain, which not coincidentally is even older than we are.)
HitNRun on February 2, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Why don’t you heed your own advice you senile hag and find a job as a judge in Egypt’s supreme court ? I’m sure they’ll be delighted to have you
burrata on February 2, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Yikes!
JohnGalt23 on February 2, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Alternate post:
Yes, you should use the Iroquois as a model.
HitNRun on February 2, 2012 at 11:10 PM
So? Everybody already knew she loathed our Constitution.
MadisonConservative on February 2, 2012 at 11:10 PM
As long as she hangs on until Barry the Kenyan Dufus is gone, I don’t give a rat’s hairy a$$ what she says to some Muslim Brotherhood towelhead.
Stu Gotts on February 2, 2012 at 11:11 PM
They’ll have to pry her corpse from her seat.
Rebar on February 2, 2012 at 11:11 PM
She should be removed for this attitude.
The Rogue Tomato on February 2, 2012 at 11:12 PM
Hi, Ms. Ginsburg. I’m from Allan West Relocation Services, and I’m here to help.
Nom de Boom on February 2, 2012 at 11:13 PM
Do the Egyptians really care what an old American Jew has to say?
Mark1971 on February 2, 2012 at 11:14 PM
Sure they do, so long as it denigrates America and it’s way of live. They also loves them some Ron Paul, who has said far worse about us.
Rebar on February 2, 2012 at 11:16 PM
What’s humorous about this whole exchange is the fact that this obvious leftist is under the delusion that ANY constitution other than the Koran will be consulted.
Nom de Boom on February 2, 2012 at 11:17 PM
I’m sure the Egyptians care what a jewish woman has to say. If anything they’ll now look at our Constitution just to spite her.
Flange on February 2, 2012 at 11:17 PM
wooooow… … …
me too. it truly does make me sad. i mean i guess i shouldn’t be surprised but for some reason, this in particular is just depressing.
yep this is exactly what he was talking about. i would love to hear him directly comment on ginsburg’s quote.
Sachiko on February 2, 2012 at 11:18 PM
Alternate Alternate post: What do you think the chances are that Ginsburg has legitimate (if laughably divorced from empirical history) procedural objections to our constitution, or that she favors the others because they guarantee material “rights” provided by someone else?
I’m going to place the respective odds at 1:6.
Particularly funny is the South Africa praise. South Africa could well be Zimbabwe in twenty years. I guess we should look on the bright side, though: if South Africa is a toilet state after receiving high praise from Ginsburg for the strength of its constitution, that won’t even rank in the Top 100 incidents of Useful Idiocy from western liberals.
Oh, any the others? Neither Canada nor Europe actually guarantee any of their “guaranteed” rights. There’s that Rule-of-Law thing again. It’s why the Senate rejected the Kyoto treaty 97-0: we know we’re (nearly) the only country on this rock that enforces its own laws when they aren’t to our advantage.
HitNRun on February 2, 2012 at 11:18 PM
I agree that our Constitution should not be emulated in the way that she interprets it.
Left Coast Right Mind on February 2, 2012 at 11:18 PM
You beat me to the punch Mark.
Flange on February 2, 2012 at 11:19 PM
Ok, I can breath easier now, secure in knowing that Justice Ginsburg will be completely impartial in judging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s forced mandate.
/
Flora Duh on February 2, 2012 at 11:19 PM
When is she going to announce her retirement? She needs to have Obama nominating her successor.
I’d love it if she somehow blew it, Obama loses, and replacing ends up in a GOP president’s hands.
Anybody got any young, brilliant conservatives to nominate? Have we ever had an Asian-American? How about John Yoo?
BuckeyeSam on February 2, 2012 at 11:20 PM
FWIW, U.S. doesn’t use U.S. government as the model when U.S. writes a new government from scratch. Look at the government of Iraq or Japan, where U.S. essentially wrote the constitution.
The fact is, U.S. model (strong presidency, working in tandem with a legislature) took extraordinary people (Founders) to set the right precedents. It was a miracle that American Experiment worked, and we shouldn’t expect miracles to be repeatable.
novakyu on February 2, 2012 at 11:21 PM
Why…is….she…talking….like…that
Mattpat11 on February 2, 2012 at 11:21 PM
Related thoughts from Mark Steyn:
That may no longer be true, as four years have elapsed since he wrote that and surprisingly all four of those nations have just about avoided collapse.
HitNRun on February 2, 2012 at 11:21 PM
*Paging Newt Gingrich*
Here’s your chance to, once again, point out the runaway power of the judiciary.
SouthernGent on February 2, 2012 at 11:21 PM
Sleepy of the seven dwarfs speaks. Thx Orrin et al.
arnold ziffel on February 2, 2012 at 11:22 PM
The rest of us: Don’t use Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a model.
For the love of god don’t do that.
thirtyandseven on February 2, 2012 at 11:22 PM
Unprintable, unrepeatable, paint-peeling, eyebrow-singeing righteous fury. The explosion would leave a crater visible from space.
Nom de Boom on February 2, 2012 at 11:23 PM
I absolutely agree with her. The US Constitution works great here in America, but thats because of who we are as Americans. Egyptians probably don’t have the same democratic ideals that we do, and thus would be unlikely to be successful with a democratic republic like we have.
The West Wing: Belarusian Constitution is a good explanation of why the US model probably wouldn’t work outside of the US.
vegconservative on February 2, 2012 at 11:24 PM
Levin is gonna flip his gourd over this tomorrow.
beatcanvas on February 2, 2012 at 11:25 PM
True as far as it goes, but a) no democracy Egypt attempts to erect will be responsible because they don’t have democratic sympathies b) the particulars of Ginsburg’s examples sound like her issues have less to do with the plausibility of delegation and protocol and more to do with a belief in the inalienable, unassailable human right to taxpayer-funded entitlements.
HitNRun on February 2, 2012 at 11:29 PM
I meant to write, “will be successful.”
HitNRun on February 2, 2012 at 11:29 PM
Let us also reflect for a moment on the fact that this fruit cake can be impeached and convicted at any time by the Congress, an occurrence that should be far more common.
Nom de Boom on February 2, 2012 at 11:30 PM
So, Ruth, was it the “Africans are three fifths of a person” part that killed it for you because, you know, that part has been modified to include all former Africans as citizens, whole person citizens. I didn’t know if you knew the change had taken place since, ummm, you were probably around when it did get changed. So, there’s that we have going for us, I think.
ExpressoBold on February 2, 2012 at 11:30 PM
well it’s not like they are incapable of having democratic ideals. i think they can learn them over time. (if they had a US-like constitution)
AWESOME 8D
Sachiko on February 2, 2012 at 11:35 PM
If you really consider yourself a constitutional conservative, you really owe it to yourself to read the actual document for a change, not just read what people write about it.
The constitution mentions no “blacks” or “African Americans”. It simply states that persons who are not free citizens (i.e. “those bound to Service for a Term of Years”) shall count for three fifths of a free person (that is, until the Reconstruction Amendments).
If we, as conservatives, believe in American exceptionalism, why is it so unbelievable that other peoples will not so easily repeat the American experiment? No other country has been founded and populated by adventurers and emigrants; no other country will be able to repeat the American experiment exactly as it unfolded.
novakyu on February 2, 2012 at 11:36 PM
I would tell the Egyptians to make sure to put and asterisk* noting “This document is not living.”
CW on February 2, 2012 at 11:40 PM
The funny thing is, the three-fifths clause was an anti-slavery measure. The South wanted slaves to count as a whole person for the purposes of representation. By only counting them as 3/5ths, the Northern states were able to reduce the representation of the South.
Revenant on February 2, 2012 at 11:43 PM
.
Yeah, you’re right. I was going off the top of my head, just to make a point, so that Ruth the Justice would have some fall back since she mentioned the first amendment protections as good things to have.
.
Too bad you don’t get humor. Could have been funny except for your wet blanket.
ExpressoBold on February 2, 2012 at 11:44 PM
Wherever we’re going with the 3/5ths discussion, it should be noted that the people who wrote it were fighting slavery. It was the slave states, not the free states, that wanted black slaves to count as a full person. It should be obvious why: more Congressional seats for slave states.
Now, of course, the authors of the clause (whomever they were) are smeared by half-smart liberal arts majors as a precursor to Dredd Scott and Hitler. Like a Kennedy or Clinton’s inconvenient women, in a way.
HitNRun on February 2, 2012 at 11:44 PM
If they ever took interest in applying the Constitution rather than trying to flout it, they may actually realize its utility.
CycloneCDB on February 2, 2012 at 11:45 PM
What a lousy, useless a sack of stupid.
Ruth Buzzy Clownbird.
profitsbeard on February 3, 2012 at 12:03 AM
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