The Use and Abuse of Comparative Law in Transnational Human Rights Litigation

Palestra com Noah Novogrodsky / University of Wyoming

International and comparative law scholars have written extensively about the migration of constitutional norms and the practice of high courts engaged in borrowing or cross-referencing decisions from foreign courts. But less attention has been paid to the question of how effective transnational advocacy occurs, particularly in the area of human rights. Based on recent experiences litigating equal marriage and contraceptive coverage questions before the United States Supreme Court, this paper examines how human rights lawyers marshal arguments and favorable case law across jurisdictions to facilitate the adoption and uptake of ideas. My tentative conclusion is that winning transnationalism requires (1) a direct appeal to first principles, (2) translation of international human rights discourse into well-tested domestic legal terms, and (3) effective comparisons, based on more than numbers.

Quinta, 11 de junho – 11 horas – Auditório B8 da Ala Frings