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The Unfinished Business Of American Democracy, Ezequiel Lugo

Ezequiel Lugo

For the last two decades, U.S. courts have been using customary international law (CIL) when dealing with human rights claims. Recently, the Supreme Court has used international law to decide cases involving constitutional rights. However, U.S. courts have not used CIL to address the right to vote, one of the most fundamental human rights. This Article surveys evidence of the right to vote as CIL and concludes that the right to vote has become a norm of CIL. It cannot, however, be directly incorporated into U.S. law because of previous judicial decisions. Nevertheless, the U.S. can comply with this norm …