Justice-website redesign goes globalist, dumps Old Glory

The United States Justice Department has launched a redesigned website, described by some as "Darth Vaderish" for replacing a waving flag banner with a black panel. But the biggest concern raised by critics is a quote posted at the top of the page attributed to a 1930s globalist.

The words are, "The common law is the will of Mankind issuing from the Life of the People."

According to U.S. House documentation, the quote is one of the multitude of statements engraved outside the Justice building in Washington. The full phrase is, "The common law is the will of mankind issuing from the life of the people, framed through mutual confidence, sanctioned by the light of reason.''

According to The American Spectator, which has documented the controversy, some attorneys believed the quote was pulled or adapted from the writing of the 18th–century British jurist Sir William Blackstone, who "influenced not only British law, but also the American constitutional and legal system."

However, the report cites "other Department of Justice employees" who say the quote comes from British lawyer D. Wilfred Jenks, author of "The Common Law of Mankind" essays in the 1950s.

The new site:

The old site:

Jenks has been identified by multiple sources as a leader in the movement for "international law" during the 1930s. After World War II, he was part of a campaign to set up global workers' rights.

He also was a long-time participant in the International Labor Organization at the United Nations and wrote tracts promoting globalism.

"Most telling," reported American Spectator, "Jenks as director of the ILO is credited with putting in place the first Soviet senior member of the U.N. organization and also with creating an environment that allowed the ILO to give 'observer status' to the Palestine Liberation Organization, and to issue anti-Israeli statements."

A Justice Department official told American Spectator, "We used to joke about how fitting it was that this was Janet Reno's favorite quote to use in speeches, and now the Obama folks think it encapsulates our department's mission."

Blogger Ann Huggett at RenewAmerica.com wrote of the quote, "What if life, especially in the partisan political arena, started imitating (low) art by ridding itself of its pertinent constitutional, American symbolism and meaning in order to go internationalist from look, feel and orientation so as not to unduly ruffle the feathers of transnationalists everywhere? Then add a statement motto attributed to communists just to rub the corruption of the original departmental intent further into the face of American citizens and voila! I've just described the new U.S. Department of Justice's official web site, a soulless paean of generic surface black and white with gold accents underlain with red socialist intent."

At Free Republic was another comment: "The web site looks awful. Very dark and dreary. Almost Darth Vaderish."

U.S. Department of Justice building

Huggett continued, "'The common law is the will of Mankind issuing from the Life of the People' is nothing more than globaloney used to justify the will of the elites over the rest of us."

At the Noisyroom blog, the author noted that the site is "on the cutting edge of technology and counterterrorism," utilizing social networking sites to "interact" with Americans.

"Well, I for one feel all warm and fuzzy knowing the DOJ will be watching those 'dangerous' bloggers. Oops, I guess I'm one of them. You don't think they would abuse their surveillance of us do you? If you don't think so, I have some prime property for you. Just ask."

At the Grimbeorn blog, the author said, "Common law (which is to say, the decisions of courts and precedents) has little to do with 'Mankind' or 'the People,' and everything to do with judges and lawyers. It is their will, in other words, insofar as it is 'will' instead of the interpretation of positive law. Insofar as it is 'will' in the judicial sense, American 'common law' should be entirely guided by our constitutional law. It is the Constitution that is the expressed will of the People – not 'Mankind,' which includes a lot of folks who are not part of the American 'We, the People.'"

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