ABSTRACT
Resistance to international impositions has a long history in American political and constitutional thinking. Indeed, the United States was founded on a particular understanding of the limited authority of an external law applied to American society. For the American Revolution was a rebellion against the imposition of transnational law, the precise issue being whether the British Parliament possessed the rightful authority to make laws for the internal affairs of the colonies. The ultimate result is still uncertain but the pattern is clear. An international institution with no real authority has gained special leverage by acting as a bridge between opposition factions in one country and allies in other countries–over a matter that has no real connection to those other countries. The United States has generally held back from grand international schemes that might result in the imposition of international standards onto American domestic affairs. Most notably, the United States long refused to ratify international human rights conventions.
