The Importance of Dialogue: Globalization and the International Impact of the Rehnquist Court

This remark is a revised version of a presentation delivered at the Conference on the Rehnquist Court at the University of Tulsa, September 1998. It discusses how globalization is effecting the process of judging and lawyering, how more and more courts and looking to the judgements of other jurisdictions, particularly when making decisions on human rights issues. As courts look all over the world for sources of authority, the process of international influences has changed from one of reception of cases from other jurisdictions to one of cross-pollination and dialogue between jurisdictions. Justice L'Heureux-Dubé evaluates the role of the United States Supreme Court under Justice Rehnquist in this international dialogue, reviewing its impact on other jurisdictions and its use of foreign case law. (The author is a judge on the Supreme Court of Canada.)