I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4118 

To ensure that the courts interpret the Constitution in the manner that 

the Framers intended. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 1, 2004 

Mr. PAUL (for himself and Mrs. MUSGRAVE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To ensure that the courts interpret the Constitution in the 

manner that the Framers intended. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Justice for 

5 Americans Citizens Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Constitution of the United States, Arti9 cle VI, states that the Constitution shall be the su10 preme law of the land and that every Senator, Rep-
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1 resentative, and every executive and judicial officer 

2 of the United States and of the several States, shall 

3 be bound by oath to faithfully discharge and perform 

4 their duties in conformity to the Constitution. 

5 (2) Although the Framers of the Constitution 

6 drew from a wide range of political and legal sources 

7 in the drafting of its various provisions, they delib8 erately designed the Constitution as a unique na9 tional instrument to govern the elected and ap10 pointed officials of the United States and of the sev11 eral States and their political subdivisions. 

12 (3) The Constitution was originally ordained 

13 and ratified by the people of the United States so 

14 the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the 

15 Federal and State governments would be exercised 

16 in accordance with the fixed and enduring principles 

17 of the Constitution, as it was ratified by the peoples’ 

18 representatives in accordance with Article VII of the 

19 Constitution, and as stated more than 200 years ago 

20 by Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall 

21 in Marbury v. Madison. 

22 (4) Departing from fidelity to the original con23 stitutional text, the Federal judiciary has increas24 ingly disregarded the will of the American people, 

25 transforming constitutional principles that were 
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1 originally designed by the people to be permanent 

2 into a set of evolving standards subject to change by 

3 judicial opinion, and thereby undermining the Amer4 ican people’s right to establish a government accord5 ing to written constitutional provisions ratified by 

6 their elected representatives in constitutional conven7 tion. 

8 (5) The Supreme Court of the United States in 

9 Atkins v. Virginia and Lawrence v. Texas found in10 dividual ‘‘constitutional’’ rights that are directly con11 trary to the American common-law tradition when it 

12 employed a new technique of interpretation called 

13 ‘‘transjudicialism’’: the reliance by American judges 

14 upon foreign judicial and other legal sources outside 

15 of American constitutional law. 

16 (6) Under this new system of 

17 ‘‘transjudicialism’’ or ‘‘global law’’, individual jus18 tices of the Supreme Court of the United States 

19 have publicly stated they expect American courts to 

20 increasingly base their opinions interpreting the 

21 Constitution in light of ‘‘international law’’ or 

22 ‘‘transnational law’’, thereby amending the Constitu23 tion from an expression of ‘‘We the People of the 

24 United States’’ to an expression of the will of 

25 judges. 
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1 (7) The American people are rightfully entitled 

2 to be governed by the Constitution, not as amended 

3 by judges through the process of ‘‘transjudicialism’’, 

4 but as amended by the process set forth in Article 

5 V of the Constitution. 

6 (8) To the end that the amendment process 

7 provided for in Article V of the Constitution is pre8 served, and that the Federal courts exercise only ju9 dicial power as vested in them by the people, Con10 gress has the power under Article I, section 8, clause 

11 18 and Article III, sections 1 and 2, to regulate the 

12 Federal courts. 

13 SEC. 3. INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

14 Neither the Supreme Court of the United States nor 

15 any lower Federal court shall, in the purported exercise 

16 of judicial power to interpret and apply the Constitution 

17 of the United States, employ the constitution, laws, ad18 ministrative rules, executive orders, directives, policies, or 

19 judicial decisions of any international organization or for20 eign state, except for the English constitutional and com21 mon law or other sources of law relied upon by the Fram22 ers of the Constitution of the United States. 

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