Judges Without Borders

In a case about the death penalty for murderers younger than 18, the majority opinion cited a U.N. treaty that the U.S. hasn't ratified.

In his two decades on the Supreme Court, Stephen Breyer has written more than just judicial opinions. In the books “Active Liberty” (2005) and “Making Our Democracy Work” (2010), he ruminated on the role of courts in our government and society, emphasizing judges' obligation to not merely defer to democracy but to improve it. In “The Court and the World,” he grapples with an even broader subject—the global reach of today's judiciary. He argues that U.S. judicial decisions have increasingly international effects, and he defends judges' efforts to view their foreign brethren and international law as a source of ideas and interpretative approaches to American law...

Read the entire piece here at The Wall Street Journal.

This piece originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal