By Andrew Cavaluzzi
Andrew grew up in New York City. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, and also spent a year studying International Relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
During his time at Albany Law, Andrew was a member and a class president of the Student Bar Association. He also interned at the Albany County District Attorney's Office, as well as the New York Attorney General's Office.
John Roberts assumed the role of Chief Justice on September 29, 2005. He is known to have shaped the Court’s role in its international law jurisprudence with a distinct judicial philosophy, best described as institutional-focused and presumptively skeptical.
Institutional focused, as it relates to his opinions, means emphasizing a balance between executive and legislative duties, a balance between judiciaries in state and federal courts, as well as strong adherence to narrow opinions. Presumptively skeptical, as it relates to his opinions, refers to his use of strict textualism and canons of construction.
This paper will first examine the topics of self-executing treaties and presumptive extraterritoriality as Chief Justice Roberts' most impactful decisions on international law. Second, it will discuss a multitude of opinions written by Roberts highlighting his institutional focus and skepticism. Naturally, these terms can be viewed as Roberts having fundamentally more conservative stances, which do often explain Roberts' stance on these cases.
This paper seeks to find the principles that the Chief Justice employs, as well as the impact they have, particularly on the power of the executive branch.
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