The trial can only end in a mistake because it is founded on one. How can a foreign court try a sovereign government of another country? Could we have tried your President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Secretary Henry Morgenthau, or Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, if we had won the war? We could not have done so and would not have. And trying that went on would have to be done by the nation itself and the courts set up there.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker argues foreign courts cannot judge sovereign governments and cites Allied leaders as examples.
- In plain terms
- Foreign courts cannot try a country's government just like we could not try yours.
- What can you take from it?
- Sovereignty is used to argue against external judgment.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Should sovereignty protect leaders from international courts?
- Does victory dictate who judges whom?
Another view
Reciprocity does not necessarily negate the legitimacy of international justice.
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