Senator Moynihan and the World Court - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

National Review, August 24, 1984 by C. Dickerman Williams

Mr. Hodding Carter has characterized the United States as an "outlaw" for its actions in this case. But law applied against one party and not against its adversaries cannot be regarded as law in the traditional Anglo-American sense. It is better to be out of it than in it. The equal application of the law is the rule of the law.

Beyond this, thanks to Stalin and U.S. acquiescence, the provisions of the UN Charter and the World Court Statute magnify the role of the Security Council: that is, the role of consensus by the Great Powers in eschewing actions against them like those Nicaragua is now pursuing before the World Court, without their express consent. Senator Moynihan is wrong on both law and policy.