Koh Confirmation. On March 23, 2009, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Harold Hongju Koh to be the Legal Adviser of the U.S. State Department. During Senate floor debate on Koh’s confirmation on June 23, Senator Jim DeMint provided evidence of Koh’s positions regarding international law and the U.S. Constitution, and then concluded that “Mr. Koh believes that if our President and Congress, empowered by our Constitution, decide military action is needed to defend our Nation from harm, we must get United Nations approval or our actions are illegal.” As further evidence of Koh’s troubling beliefs regarding the Constitution and international law, Senator DeMint quoted from a 2004 law review article entitled “International Law as Part of Our Law,” in which Koh states: “U.S. domestic courts must play a key role in coordinating U.S. domestic constitutional rules with rules of foreign and international law, not simply to promote American aims but to advance the broader development of a well-functioning international judicial system.”
The Senate confirmed Harold Koh to be State Department Legal Adviser on June 25, 2009 by a vote of 62-35 (Roll Call 213). We have assigned pluses to the nays because subordination of U.S. sovereignty to international law and international organizations would undermine the Constitution.
