Even though the Constitution proclaims treaties entered into by the United States to be part of the supreme law of the land and authorises prosecution of offences against the law of nation in federal courts, the United States has had a checkered record in ratifying human rights instruments, in upholding decisions of international tribunals, and indeed in submitting itself to the jurisdiction of such tribunals. It refused to uphold judgments of the International Court of Justice within its municipal legal system, terminated the competence of the ICJ to adjudicate international disputes to which it is a party, and attempted to undermine the functioning of the international criminal court. It engaged in armed conflicts in blatant violation of international humanitarian law and subjected belligerent detainees to unbecoming interrogation techniques. There are clear indications that the Obama administration is setting the United States on a new course of international comity and Völkerrechtsfreundlichkeit.

The Author: Johan D. van der Vyver, B.Comm., LL.B., Honns. B.A. (Potchefstroom University, South Africa), LL.D. (University of Pretoria); Diploma of the International and Comparative Law of Human Rights (International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg), LL.D. (honoris causa, University of Zululand), LL.D. (honoris causa, Potchefstroom University); I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights, Emory University School of Law (USA); Director of The World Law Institute of Emory University; Senior Fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion of Emory University; Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Private Law of the University of Pretoria.

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