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President Obama is embarking on a new and troubling direction for our nation. Many are calling it the “Selling of America” – surrendering our national sovereignty – our constitutional framework – all in the interest of international cooperation.
President Obama – pushing global governance – in political and economic policies – even in the nominees he chooses. There’s growing concern that under President Obama, the United States of America will turn into the United States of Europe. What’s happening to our democracy? Our sovereignty? Our independence? The American Center for Law and Justice understands what’s at stake – and is concerned about this dangerous direction. At the ACLJ, we’re working alongside our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), to hold the Obama Administration accountable.
The fact is whether you look at foreign policy, economic policy - or even top appointees to the federal government, like Harold Koh, the U.S. State Department’s top legal pick, there’s a focus on what can only be described as the ideology of “transnationalism.”
You can learn more about this issue by watching an interview I did with Glenn Beck last week on FOX News. You can watch the interview here.
A transcript of the interview is posted below. And, join us today for Jay Sekulow Live! where we’ll give you details on how you can stand up for America and sign on to our Letter of Protest to the White House - sending a powerful message to President Obama that America is NOT for sale. The U.S. is a sovereign, independent world leader – and must not surrender its autonomy.
Here’s the transcript to the Glenn Beck interview which aired on April 2, 2009:
GLENN BECK: Now, this morning, I read a story in the “New York Times” about Harold Koh and how I have just taking this poor man out of context, how I just – I’ve been smearing him. President Obama’s pick to become one of the State Department’s top lawyers has ignited fury among his critics, this according to the “New York Times.” I guess I’m one of them now. His legal views are a threat to American democracy, I believe.
Jay Sekulow is here. He’s the Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.
You know what? I -- Jay, I want to be really, really clear here, and I want to make sure we get all the facts exactly right because .
JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Sure.
BECK: . the “New York Times” is an apologist for this guy and they say -- oh, that Glenn Beck is, oh, well, he’s just crazy, quote, “This is just an attempt to whip up hysteria.”
So, tell me a little bit, in this man’s own words, tell me who he is.
SEKULOW: He’s a transnationalist. He believes that the United States’ sovereignty and our judicial sovereignty should be subservient to the European Union or to the United Nations. I mean, if you look at what his written -- this is not by the way, you know, some are criticizing, Glenn, that we are using this term “transnational” as if it’s pejorative. This is the terms he uses.
BECK: Yes.
SEKULOW: He’s written the law review articles that say he’s a transnationalist.
BECK: Right.
SEKULOW: And I want everybody to understand this, what Justice Scalia said about 15 years ago. When the United States Supreme Court is determining whether something is constitutional or not, they are expounding on a Constitution. Europe does not have a Constitution, so applying European standards to the United States Constitution basically takes our United States Constitution and makes it a local law only to be superseded by the European Union. And I litigate cases in Europe.
BECK: OK. So, look, here’s the thing. So people understand what transnationalism is .
SEKULOW: Sure.
BECK: . and again, it’s not a dirty word.
SEKULOW: No.
BECK: And this is how he describes himself.
SEKULOW: Absolutely.
BECK: What it means is -- and correct me if I'm not wrong, it is -- it is an evolutionary law. We no longer open up a textbook, go to any college and study the law. You’re not going to see the quotes from the Founding Fathers or anything from the constitutional convention.
SEKULOW: Right.
BECK: You’re going to see case law. This started in the 1920s, if I’m not mistaken. And what happened is, they started saying, wait a minute, evolution, if evolution is real well then people evolve, so must our understanding of things and so must the law. So now they just look to the future.
SEKULOW: Right.
BECK: . and kind of sum and we continue to move forward. Now, it’s moving into other nations, correct or not?
SEKULOW: It’s even more -- yes, it is correct, but it’s even more than that. You mentioned the Darwinian aspect of this -- it does have a Darwinian base and that over time, universal norms come into existence. And even where you have a national sovereignty, a United States Constitution, that document no longer becomes the charter document upon which the government in the United States is to operate.
BECK: Right.
SEKULOW: And we have to meet these systems from foreign countries and apply that to United States. And here’s the real danger on this and this is a danger.
Now, here’s the danger. Dean Koh is a smart guy, don’t -- listen, nobody should not question he’s an intelligent guy. But what he is proposing is to take the State Department -- he is not going to be a senior lawyer at the State Department, he is going to be the lawyer at the State Department, the chief counsel, and he is basically saying, we take our American experience and if it doesn’t mesh with the rest of the world, the rest of the world wins.
And that, frankly, is -- I call – it’s -- a lot of people are calling this “lawfare,” it’s utilizing the law as a weapon.
BECK: Oh, yes.
SEKULOW: And that's where you got to be very, very concerned.
BECK: And, America, you know this. When they can’t get you to vote for something, they kick it up to the legal -- into the legal system. If they can’t win in the legal system, they kick it up to the United Nations or to the E.U. or whatever.
SEKULOW: Yes.
BECK: That's the way it works.
SEKULOW: And you really have to watch the U.N. issue here because -- and we do a lot of work at the U.N. and here’s the problem -- you take those standards, for instance, the president has made the change now in the Human Rights Council, so the United States is going to join the Sudan and Cuba in the Human Rights Council. That’s been not the policy for two decades. We’ve now changed that.
The danger, and to me, its significant is, again, it’s subservient to our national interests, and what happens is, the international norms take over the U.S. norms.
BECK: OK.
SEKULOW: And the danger on that and the justices have said, be very careful when that starts happening because American sovereignty is at risk.
BECK: Real quick, I just have to say this because we have to go (ph) for a break.
SEKULOW: Yes.
BECK: The “New York Times” made this whole thing about he never called for Sharia law. I never claimed he called for Sharia law.
SEKULOW: Right.
BECK: What he was talking about, again, is transnationalism, that if this is something that is starting to grow around the world, well then the world is moving in that direction and we move as well. That is what transnationalism means, right or wrong?
SEKULOW: Look, they’re doing -- absolutely – they’re doing that in the United Kingdom right now. They got (INAUDIBLE) Sharia courts.
BECK: I know. I know.
SEKULOW: So, it’s absolutely that standard. And there you talked about the American people should understand what that means long-term.
BECK: Yes.
SEKULOW: . for Americans’ domestic interest, not good.
BECK: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
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