Representative Democracy is So Yesterday

Check out this recent quote from Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer:

"U.S. law is not handed down from on high even at the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "The law emerges from a conversation with judges, lawyers, professors and law students. ... It's what I call opening your eyes as to what's going on elsewhere."

And you thought having a constitution and voting for a so-called lawmaker actually meant something. (See more at Powerline).

Update: American University law professor Kenneth Anderson says the Breyer quote above was misreported by AP. It appears Breyer was speaking within the narrow context of interpreting legal texts that have already been established and informed by various democratically elected institutions. Nevertheless, the level of deference that Justice Breyer gives to international law in the interpretation of U.S. law -- as reflected in the last quoted sentence -- is something that Anderson has a bone of contention with.