Judge carries message of U.S. justice across globe

Kim Smith

Monday, Dec. 27, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

One look around the chamber of U.S. District Judge Lloyd George and it's clear that his love of U.S.-style justice is global.

Along with the requisite number of law books and scholarly papers are pictures and souvenirs that show he isn't content practicing the law simply within the Foley Federal Building in Las Vegas.

George travels the globe educating fledgling democracies about what he believes is the best judicial system in the world. The robe from Tajikistan and the pottery from Poland are just inexpensive thanks for the lessons he has provided over the years.

Although the United States is in its infancy compared to some of the countries he has traveled to, it happens to have the world's oldest constitution.

"We had some really inspired founding fathers," George said. "We owe a debt to the George Washingtons and the Madisons. I have really gained respect for them. To have this system endure with so few amendments is nothing short of a miracle."

Over the past seven years George has made close to a dozen trips to such places as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Belarus -- countries still in the process of hammering out the finer points of their constitutions.

George owes many of his frequent flier miles to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. In the early 1990s, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the newly created countries, desperate for knowledge about democracies, joined with other new democratic countries in bombarding the United States with questions.

"Judge Rehnquist decided to establish a program to accommodate all of the foreign judiciaries who were visiting here," George said.

The Committee to Coordinate International Relations is made up of members of the U. S. Judicial Conference who travel to their assigned countries to lecture on such things as separation of powers, the jury system and judicial review.

George knows quite a bit about each of the concepts -- in theory and in practice.

George, who will be 70 in February, grew up in Las Vegas. He earned his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961 and began practicing law that same year in Las Vegas.

Thirteen years later, George was appointed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to preside over the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. President Ronald Reagan put him on the federal bench in 1984. In December 1997, recognizing the need for an additional federal judge, George decided to assume senior (part-time) status so another full-time judge could be appointed. U.S. District Judge Johnnie Rawlinson has been selected for that position.

George has taken his knowledge to far-off lands that have little in common with the United States, let alone each other.

The Committee to Coordinate International Relations assigned George and Michael Mihm, chief judge of the Central District of Illinois, to the Commonwealth of Independent States, 11 countries that used to make up the Soviet Union.

The pair's first trip was to Warsaw, Poland, where they met with judges from the former Soviet Union in addition to other Eastern bloc countries. In all 20 countries were represented and he and George were the only Americans there, Mihm said.

"Every night after dinner we were surrounded by judges and for two or three hours we were answering their questions about not just the law, but about our culture," Mihm said.

George was well suited for his role that night, Mihm said, because "he tells you exactly the way it is, he won't exaggerate and he won't fill in any holes."

Since that trip, George has been to the former Soviet Union countries on several occasions -- most of the time as a committee member and other times as a favor for current committee members unable to make it.

The differences between those countries and the United States are immense, George said. Concepts that people in the United States take for granted, concepts like freedom of speech, separation of powers, judicial review and separation of church and state are unheard of there.

During one of his trips George said he heard about a newspaper editor who called the president of Moldova a "donkey" being jailed and the newspaper being taken over by the government.

"They're evolving now," George said.

George also said that while the United States' judicial system is a common-law system and the outcomes of cases are based upon what has happened in previous cases, or precedents, many other countries have a civil law system and outcomes are based upon statutes.

The United States is also more fortunate in that its civil and criminal rules and procedures are adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court but not until after numerous committees of scholars, lawyers and other legal professionals have drafted them and redrafted them, George said.

Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and their neighbors haven't had those kinds of dialogues, George said. Laws are enacted with little input and worse, are not subjected to review in terms of constitutionality.

"Many of those countries don't even have bar associations," George said.

Although American judges have been able to develop a good rapport with their foreign counterparts, George said he makes an effort to reassure those he meets that the U.S. is not trying to impose its will upon them.

"I always tell them, 'You're starting from new, you can take all of the good points from our system and adjust them so they work well for you,' " George said.

One of the most important lessons George says he tries to impart is that it's essential to be able to balance the preservation of basic human rights with the idea of democracy. Just because a majority of people may feel a certain way doesn't mean they should be able to infringe upon someone else's rights, he said.

"Perfection is much more often found in the balance rather than in the extremes, and the United States has realized that lesson," George said.

The chance to watch these countries evolve has been a gift, George and Mihm agreed.

"It's been a unique historical opportunity for us to listen in on their debates, because it was like listening in on our founding fathers," Mihm said. "The only difference is that half of the founding fathers are founding mothers. They have a lot of women judges there."