Council Comments
Frederick L. Kirgis
Law Alumni Association Professor of Law Emeritus
Washington and Lee University School of Law

The next U.S. administration must first make a very basic decision that, unfortunately, cannot simply be taken for granted: Is it in the interest of the United States, as a matter of foreign policy, consistently and seriously to take into account international law in all its dimensions? A decision to do so would require a foreign policy that prominently includes, at a minimum, (a) good faith consideration of relevant international legal norms (including customary as well as treaty norms) and processes as a vital component of decision-making; (b) genuine respect for existing international regimes and institutions; and (c) a long-range view of U.S. interests when negotiations for new regimes on such important matters as terrorism, nonproliferation, human rights and the environment are undertaken.