"the nature of the criticism of using international law comes from a misunderstanding of the american use of that concept of using foreign law and that misunderstanding is unfortunately, endorsed by some of our own supreme court justices. both justice scalia and justice thomas have written extensively criticizing the use of foreign and international law in supreme court decisions." so she criticized justice scalia and thomas, who have expressed opposition to this. let me be blunt. i believe it's judge sotomayor, not the justices scalia and thomas, who are wrong. under her approach, a yuj is free -- has free rein to survey the world to find what they might consider to be good ideas, and then impose these views on the american people calling it

"law." however, this is not the american system. our system requires judges to adhere to this constitution. to the statutes and to the legal precedent, to the end that justices follow the will of the people of our country, as expressed in our law. the constitution says we do ordain and establish this constitution of the united states, not some other. judges aren't free to amend it by citing some other foreign constitution. i think this is a big deal. so they're not -- judges aren't free to indulge their own personal opinions about what good policy is. judges don't set policy. and to search for support for that in foreign law. despite judge sotomayor's claim at a duke law school panel discussion that -- quote -- -- f appeals is where policies is

made. judges are not policy-makers. they are servants of the law if they're fulfilling their role properly. the law, as it is, not the way they might wish it to be. second, in reliance on -- reliance on foreign law causes confusion rather than clarification as to the state of american law. judge sotomayor claims that foreign law -- quote -- "can add to the story of knowledge relevant to the solution of a question." close quote. paraphrasing supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg, who pioneered this concept, she made those statements. and judge ginsburg's citation of it in cases and her defense of it in speeches is really -- has really led to this controversy which scalia and thomas have responded. so on the contrary, reliance on foreign law create creates conf.

consider sotomayor's opinion in c.e.o. v. c.e.o. in the interpretation of a treaty. one of the few instances in which reliance on foreign law may be perfectly permissible. judge sotomayor repeatedly criticized the majority judges on the panel as parochial for consulting american dictionaries to understand the meaning of the -- of "custody" as determined by the hague convention on international child abduction and then she relies on foreign interpretations of those words instead. yet the majority rightly rebuked judge sotomayor for relying on the scattered and divergent foreign legal cases on this subject. the majority even cites the supreme court precedent that warns against relying on foreign law, creates a state of confusion.

third, the reliance on foreign law is also based on a misconception that judges, rather than elected officials, in the political branches of government play a role in advancing our nation's foreign policy. judge sotomayor states this -- quote -- "i share more the ideas of justice ginsburg and her thinking that unless american courts are more open to discussing the ideas raid by foreign cases and by international cases, that we are going to lose influence in the world." close quote. but judges aren't diplomats, and it's a job of diplomats -- it's the job of diplomats to protect our standing in the world and they have to explain to the world why we rule the way rerule on our cases. that's their responsibility. reliance on foreign law blurs a distinction between domestic and foreign law undermining our ability to make democratic choices. the examples of the supreme

court reliance on foreign law cited approvingly by judge sotomayor, involve the interpretation of the constitution dealing with purely domestic legal issues that do not and should not touch on any matter of international concern. for example, she approvingly cites the case of robert v. simmons in which five justices of the supreme court recently rendered a decision based in part on their review of foreign law and concluded that our constitution declares that we cannot execute a violent criminal if that criminal is one day under 18 years of age when he killed someone or a group of people. there is enothinthere's nothinge constitution that says that. they found some foreign law to make an argument about what the constitution says about what age a state can set for a death

penalty. i know we can disagree on what the age should be, but it's a legislative matter. the court in that case said it was looking to -- quote -- "evolving standard of decency that marked the progress of a maturing society" -- close quote. what kind of standard is that for a law? where do you find what the maturing society now believes? do you check with china? do you check with iran? or maybe france? i mean, where do we do this? how do they define what this all is? the court concluded that the death penalty violated the eighth amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment when there are at least six or more references in

the constitution itself. the capital crimes, to not taking life without due process, it's always been contemplated in the constitution that the death penalty is not cruel and unusual. that was for drawing such matters as that. if basic constitutional matters are subject to reconsideration, our constitution ceases to be the bullwork for our liberty -- the bulwark for our liberty it has always been. the constitution will be weakened. its its authority and power will be diminished. yet this is precisely the view of foreign law advocated by judge sotomayor, who says that these courts who do this -- quote -- "were just using foreign law to help us understand what the concept meant to other countries and to help us understand whether our understanding of our own

constitutional rights fell into the mainstream of human thinking" -- close quote. well, i'm not sure tha -- did te judge conduct polls, worldwide polls of human thinking? how does a judge find out what the mainstream of human thinking is? in truth, many of the critics of this idea have hit the nail on the head, i think. they say that all it does is allow a judge to look around the world to find somebody that agrees with them and use that as authority to do what they wanted to do all along. judge sotomayor not only advocates for reliance on foreign law, but she also goes a step further than justice ginsburg advocating for adoption of the techniques of foreign judges, even ones that serve to

conceal the individual judge's reasoning process from public scrutiny. in her forward to the book "the international judge," which she was chosen to do the forward to, judge sotomayor states -- quote -- "the question of how much we have to learn from foreign law and the international community when interpreting our constitution is not the only one worth posing. as the international judge makes clear, we should also question how much we have to learn from international courts and from their male and female judges about the process of judging and the factors outside the law that influence our decisions." close quote. in her speech in 1999, judge sotomayor expressed admiration for the french tradition of judicial panels, panels of judges, issuin issuing single ds

commenting -- quote -- "with a single decision. there is less pressure on individual judges and less fear of reprisal for unpopular decisions." according to law professor william d. popkin, french legal opinions are anonymous -- unanimous and la connic laconic. "the irony about french judicial opinion write something that minimal reason-giving allows frenches judges to conceal a bold judicial law-making role, perhaps even bolder than in the case of u.s. and english judges

>> steve bunin back on espnews, 45 minutes from the draft coverage on espn. rachel nichols is at new york knicks camp and joins us now. the knicks made a bit of a head scratcher today when they bought the laker's first-round pick for $3 million. what were they thinking? >> that's actually a very smart move by them. it moves forward to a couple seasons. it's a move to save cap room. they need more players. if they get a more veteran player, you have to sign him to a multi-year, multi-money deal. if you sign a draft pick and restock through the draft and get a few extra draft picks like the one they picked up from the lakers, you know how much he's going to cost you. there is a rookie salary cap in the nba. that's a lower aim. you can save for 2010. say it with me, kids. we all know what happens in

2010, lebron james is available. >> looking ahead in terms of tonight, what is the team thinking now about the draft? >> well, the common thing around here is hey, they need a guard, they need a guard. they're certainly looking at that. chad ford had stuff on curry falling to them at number eight. if that happens, there will be all kinds of happy faces around this building. there is no question mike d'antoni loved curry, he crushed about him, and curry has the great connection with the new york fans. he's got a history with him and they love the way he play, that shooting style. he would be a great pick here. if he's not there, the biggest thing they talk about finding is someone who fits with n with that fast-paced mike d'antoni offense. they need someone who can score. mike d'antoni said maybe not necessarily someone who can score but someone who can play at that level. >> this is a perennial sub-.500 team. it's the knicks which makes it a big deal. what makes it unique this draft night? >> they are drafting for more than basketball skills. you have to find someone to fit

into this new york market and there is so much pressure on this team, so many failed experiment, the stephon marbury experiment. mike d'antoni came in and people thought, wow, this will solve everything this season. he's not a miracle worker. there's been a lot of things and attention on this team. they need to give their fan base something they can get excited about. there's so much talk about lebron in 2010. that's really up to lebron james. the knicks don't have control over that. if that doesn't happen, there are some other great players in that class available free agents, chris bosh, dwyane wade constituent at the moment. they have to make their fan base excited now and point towards the 2010 cap room direction and get off and running. a lot of stakes are high in this draft. >> rachel nichols reporting from knicks camp. see you on espn's draft coverage all night long. >> thanks. >> tennis, anyone?s a second round wimbledon. the ladies side, the five-timese champion and the third seed venus williams taking on

kateryna bondarenko. first set venus crushes the backhand down the line. the left knee wrapped up, but it didn't seem to bother her today. the first set takes it. day.nd set, venus no problem, sailing through to round three. >> she put a lot of balls back in play. so we had some longer rallies and i always felt like i needed i to be the aggressive one and b really take control of the and point. te con that'st's really how i want to play throughout the h championsp and it's a good match for me. >> her sister serena is the twos seed in the bottom half of the draw. 2 the top seed is dinara safina. t look at wimbledon. okok at england. look at mother nature. back to tennis. safina, the top seed, she's melt ed in the three grand slamin finals in which she's appeared, including the french open justig last month. t in this match against

rosanna de los rios, no problem. other scores, svetlana kuznetsova, who won at the french open, straight-sets winner, as well. most of the seeds still alive in the women's draw. theabout the men? the top-seeded american, andy roddick taking on a big russian, igor kunitsyn. rod ache two-time runner up herm has set point. in fact, triple set point. a unleashes a powerful backhand. takes first set 6-4.ackh second set, already in the third at 3-3. kunitsyn puts up a pretty good i fight. a-rod goes boris becker, buts it's not enough. didn't matter, roddick 18 ace.ug broken just one. showing the hustle a nd the court coverage has a few people believing he might be able to win this thing. roddick just too much for the russian. he plows through the roundhe

three.ne >> i knew i was getting thee better of him. i knew i was getting a lot more looks at his stuff than mine.seb i saw my best stuff in the fourth set. so i got through. you know, it was comfortableot. most of the time. you know, a couple things hereof ere.there, but overall it was all right. >> and the story at wimbledon io andy murray. look at the crowd just gathering at the lawn to watch. yingscotsman trying to become first man from great britain to win at wimbledon since the 1930s. the near court, look at thatt backhand lob. murray's got a ton of game, bigs guy, served pretty well. serving for the first set. works the dropper. impressive. takes the second set 7-5. pod now two points from the match. murray gets the break he needs.t 36 winners, just five unforced

errors. he's on to the third round as well.ell. the upset of the day? here it is. t that's juan martin del potro.-7 6'7" from argentina. young up and comer taking on lleyton hewitt. o when you're that big, you can hurdle over the net with ease.he hewitt won this thing in 2002. once the top player in the world. but he hadn't beaten a top five player in four years. he took first two sets three and five. and here's a crucial point inal set three. earns the break at love. hewitt now serving. one game from the match. the unforced error. del potro breaks back. it's 5-5. hewitt breaks again to go up 6-e and now serving for the match.he aussie, aussie, oy. he's a fighter, layton hewitt. he downs del potro. he loves playing in england.

says it feels like a second home. another major, major sporting event in south africa, the confed cup. u.s. against brazil. do the americans have any chance? chance? alexi - why is it raining? - ( nextel chirps throughout ) - lose the rain. - roger that. no rain.no rainbows. ( chattering over nextel phones ) - could you tell us what's going on? - yeah, the cake is en route, - the tulips just arrived, and the groom is-- - he's getting cold feet. - i'm okay, no i'm not. - look, we gotta go now. the light's perfect. - we need the stunt groom now. - what's a stunt groom? ( "here comes the bride" playing ) jackpot. get work done now. nextel direct connect with gps tracking. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

>> somewhere out there is a piece that fits your puzzle. >> oh, what a move by blake griffin. >> all you have to do is find it. >> blocked by thabeet. >> in the nba draft, tonight, 7:00 p.m. on espn.ght afth

>> i like what he does on the gh field. >> i enjoyed that a lot.t afterh >> the last night of the regula. gh season. >> fast asleep.t afghter th >> it madeis me stop and go...ge ght afteower. >> mike andr th mike. gh >> on mike and mike thiss morning, timmy legler was in for f regular partner mike golic. three quick questions about tonight's nba draft. not counting blake griffin, who is the one player you think is a most ready to step in and make an impact on nba level?n >> two, tyreke evans and stephen curry. evans has an nba body.ak he's ready to take contact righ, now. a very smart player. curry, a guy with that kind ofta scoring ability will be find in the nba. he's going to be a gem. if he goes to the right system, which i think he almost any of the teams up top need his scoring. >> how about the guy who you know is going to go high who makes you nervous?ou ou i'm concerned about ricky rubio. some of the things you do on the film, he won't get away with a lot of that stuff against nba defenders. i don't like the mechanics of his stroke.nba. he's got improve.tr

physically can he compete at that level? there's no doubt he can runev team. he's got the knowledge. but will he be good enough to e got as a two or three, a points guard? that's the kind of guy you seed having a potentially hall of fame career. >> finally, griffin will go g number one. just how good do you think thiso guy will be? >> he's going to be a sdtud rigt off the bat. he's going to play a ton ofhe minutes immediately. he rebounds in traffic, fe phenomenal athlete. he's got more face-up game thana odybody has seen him play. well,going to have to have that in the nba to take his game to that level where you're an all-star at the power forward u position.bio i'm anxious to see if he has ha that. he says he does. alt letically no question this guy from day one is a productive player. >> legler will be back andyer. better than ever tomorrow morning breaking down nba draft right here on "mike and mike in the morning." >> another one. one. giuseppe rossi has two goals. >> where's the spirit?heris t

where's the heart?he >> unfortunately after these two game, there's not a lot to belot excited about individually or collectively with this team. >> the united states, which noth only had to win and hope italy lost, they needed to t scores to match up. >> it's an own goal! >> spainabsolute disaster for italy. >> spain and the united states. >> the shot deflected. jozy altidore gives u.s.a. the>> >>ad. >> that's it. prs o the u.s. has shocked spain. and maybe the rest of the worldr too. >> indeed they did.hey sunday 2:00 eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific on espn, the united states will play for its first international title of any kindt in soccer or as they call it the rest of the world football. alexi lalas, u.s. soccer hall of famer, played on two world cuphu teams for the united states.

here to break down what happened to the u.s. and what his prospects are against brazil which overcame south africa. haka and robino. kaka has an opportunity. >> the south african goalkeeper was all over everything. south africa had the better of h the plays for me in the first half. 0-0 at halftime.>> second half, 81st minute. anne minutes left in regulation. donny alves comes in and makes magic work. >> you don't necessarily think of brazil in terms of free kick. you think free flowing.ree but he can hit a free kick. check this out. boom. thank you have much, five minutes of work. >> that's as effective as you get.m has nothin beckham has nothing on him. wase >> a good performance from brazil, but south africa playedt a great game. >> as expected the brazilians g. get to the confed cup final.he

coedsir as expected they'll be playing the united states, not spain, team u.s.a. sunday 2:00 2 eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific. it has been moved to espn. move you can also see it on espn360.com. today.break down what happens today and we'll talk about the afteicans matching up with the brazilians. what did brazil show you today? >> they wore down south africa, but for me what it was is south africa, if you look at how theyt forced the issue against brazila brazil stepped back, took their chances where they came, but it. wasn't a great outing for brazil, but when you're talking about the big teams, they find n way to get the goals. even if it comes at the end. go check out the goal here by danny alves. this is a bomb. not around a swerve. >> what can you do as a defender to try to... >> you're jumping to get something. the goalkeeper can't see. it's going to fast. >> if you're south africa don't foul in the top of the box evend if it's a game where you're getting opportunities. of >> a couple days to rest up ands

prepare for the united states. d they clobbered the u.s. it was just thursday last week, 3-0, with a couple goals in the whatt few minutes of the game. what does the united states have to learn from tha ft and do differently on sunday?differ >> you got to get excited for ad game the u.s. versus brazil.me . i know your wife is brazilian si i'll ask you who you're rooting for, but for the u.s., anot opportunity to play against the brazil, not only to play against them in a tournament but play then again because they didn't show um in the first round. they let a set piece goal inell. very, very early, which they thn't do in this game. they have to learn from their they need to they need the take a page out of their play against spain. the more opportunities they get in the first 20 minutes, they can't let a goal in the first 20 minutes, but the more offensivet opportunities they get to show e brazil they're in the game, notf sit back and defend, the better for the u.s. beasley had that gaffe against brazil and hasn't played since. other than that, what has coach bob bradley done that's beenmo effective in terming this teamur around. >> tim howard sat out the game-a against egypt and then came back

and had a brilliant game against spain. i think there's just a collective confidence.k we talked about it for the past two weeks. where was the spirited, where was the heart. it showed up against egypt and that were able to continue it it the game against spain. egypt againsey have to say, all right, you beat the number one team in the world. you have that same sort ofam spirit against brazil. brazil is a different teamil against spain.eam spain more methodical, almostha predictable, then brazil, you got the individuals that can beat you on the dribble with aso little bit of flair and creativity. obviously the set pieces. it's going to be a different wih of brazil. drent >> who are you rooting for? >> i plead the fifth. pd my life is a happy life. >> oh, come on! >> either way you'll be happy.il >> the u.s. will be missing best michael bradley, who scored against egypt and got a red cart at the tail end of the game against spain. how does that impact the united states.pa here it is.ll tha is that a red card? >> it's not a red card except that this is becoming a troublen

ing trend. t it might not be a red card a around the world, but at the highest level, especially when you're playing against some ofeb the best teams in the world,n studs up, the ref sees it and he's going to ding you. if you're michael bradley or anybody else, don't put yourself in those situations.el heo bad because he doesn't getn. to play in the final d and he'se had a very good tournament and he's an important part of this team. but you have benny who will probably come in, a more gtourna attacking style.h a as i said before, they need toty attack brazil. >> it will be sunday, 2:00 eastern, 11:00 pacific on espn. exi i lalas will certainly be watching. we appreciate your help on espn. the >> all righty. >> the big man has been traded, but is this the biggest trade of the day in the nba? vince carter is heading south. we'll break it down with our "aircheck" crew coming up on espnews. plus nba draft, coverage starting in just 30 minutes now on espn. where will the big names go and who is sliding down. one big name night surprise you.