Did you know that international law could supercede American law? In fact, Congress may not be able to repeal ObamaCare because it would be in violation of international law. That is the point now being made by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. He cites the United Nations High Commissioner on human rights as well as Article 25 of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights and article 5(e) of the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimation to make his case.
And if that doesn't convince you that American law should just be ignored, then Milbank pulls out Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights to ensure that Obamacare remains in place for all time no matter the burden it places upon the economy.
What has Milbank really upset is that the Trump administration has not shown Congress a five page "urgent appeal" from the UN High Commissioner warning that Obamacare repeal would put the USA at odds with the international community. Here is Milbank making the case for international law before his readers basically tell him to take that five page urgent appeal and stick it where the moon don't shine:
We’ve already seen that repealing Obamacare is politically perilous. Now there’s a new complication: It may also violate international law.
The United Nations has contacted the Trump administration as part of an investigation into whether repealing the Affordable Care Act without an adequate substitute for the millions who would lose health coverage would be a violation of several international conventions that bind the United States. It turns out that the notion that “health care is a right” is more than just a Democratic talking point.
A confidential, five-page “urgent appeal” from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva, sent to the Trump administration, cautions that the repeal of the Affordable Care Act could put the United States at odds with its international obligations. The Feb. 2 memo, which I obtained Tuesday, was sent to the State Department and expresses “serious concern” about the prospective loss of health coverage for almost 30 million people, which could violate “the right to social security of the people in the United States.”
And the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights was voted into office by the American public?
OHCHR requested that copies of the letter be shared with majority and minority leadership in both chambers of Congress and proposed that “the wider public should be alerted to the potential implications of the above-mentioned allegations.”
Apparently that didn’t happen. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer’s office said they didn’t receive the letter, and officials in House Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s offices said Tuesday that they were unaware of it. The letter did make its way to the Department of Health and Human Services, where an employee leaked it to congressional Democratic leadership. A State Department spokesman said my inquiry was “the first I’m hearing of this.”
GASP! Congress wasn't shown a letter stating that American law must unconstitutionally bow before international law? The horror. The horror.
A spokesman for the U.N.’s human rights office in Geneva confirmed the authenticity of the letter, which was sent by Dainius Puras, a Lithuanian doctor who serves the United Nations under the absurdly long title “Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”
Perhaps we could give Dana Milbank the title of "Special Raconteur on the right of mental health challenged liberals to believe international law overrides American law."
Though of questionable legal value, the U.N. letter is at least a bit of moral support for those defending Obamacare. Those attempting to deny health care to tens of millions of Americans would hurt their own constituents in a way that falls short of the standards we hold for ourselves and other countries.
This is where Milbank goes into Beltway Bubble delusional mode. The U.N. letter just makes it harder for Democrats to make their case. Just imagine the future electoral difficulties of any Democrat who cites international law as a reason not to repeal Obamacare.
The Trump administration has shown its contempt for such considerations by failing to pass along the U.N. letter to congressional leaders.
Perhaps they correctly don't consider international law having any relevancy at all upon U.S. domestic law. Meanwhile some reader opinions about Milbank and the U.N. High Commissioner's five page letter:
It's America and what is decided here is NOT under the pervue of the irrelevant UN or some non-descript doctor from Lithuania.
Dude, we are still a sovereign nation (unlike nations under the heel of EU), there is no international body or law which is above American law. UN is not a boss of us.
Exactly where in the Constitution of the United States did we cede control of our healthcare system to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights?
The United States of America is a SOVEREIGN country, and we are not under International law! Forget it! They have no authority over us!
Exit question: Would ObamaCare repeal be in violation of Sharia law?
