Chertoff on International Law
Opinio Juris has an interesting piece about a speech Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff gave last week in which he said "international law is being used as a rhetorical weapon against us." It was essentially a call for a more conservative approach to international law. For more, check out the post and the Reuters article.

I read the article and this part stuck out to me:

Chertoff said the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Guantanamo prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan that required the United States to treat detainees under Geneva Conventions standards showed international law's entry into the U.S. domain.

I do not understand why Chertoff would be so surprised the Supreme Court said that the Geneva Conventions apply to the US. The Constitution gives great weight to treaties, not liberal judges or judicial activists or whatever else you want to call them. We signed the Geneva Conventions and ratified them in 1977. Why the shock now that we actually have to follow the laws we enact?