Senator Ted Cruz has an excellent essay in the Harvard Law Review Forum entitled Limits on the Treaty Power. Here is a taste: The Necessary and Proper Clause does not give Congress power to implement treaties in a way that contravenes the structural limitations on the federal government’s powers …. The President should not be […]
Archive | Treaties
Radiolab: Sex, Ducks, and The Founding Feud
Radiolab just did a nice segment about Bond v. United States, locating the treaty issue within the larger context of sovereignty and federalism. John Bellinger, Joseph Ellis, Duncan Hollis, and I make appearances. Audio here.
In Bond Oral Argument, the Federal Government Once Again Refuses to Admit there are any Structural Limits to Federal Power
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Bond v. United States, an important case on the issue of whether the Constitution allows the federal government to use international treaties to give Congress authority over issues that otherwise would be beyond the scope of federal power. Bond – which has already been to […]
“Great” Powers and Federal Power Over Treaties
In my new article, Rethinking the Federal Eminent Domain Power, I begin by explaining a theory of the Necessary and Proper Clause that I call the idea of “great powers.” Put simply, the idea is that there are some powers that are sufficiently important that they cannot be implied through the Clause, even if they […]
What Questions Will Be Resolved By Bond v. United States?
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear argument in Bond v. United States, a case about a conviction under a statute that purports to implement a chemical weapons treaty. The arguments at the Court raise basic questions about the scope of the treaty power and the scope of Congress’s ability to implement that treaty power. While […]
Does The Treaty Power Threaten Our System of Limited Government?
By Nick Rosenkranz on October 29, 2013 3:27 pm in Constitutional Law, Federalism, Tenth Amendment, Treaties
Senator Ted Cruz and I will discuss. Heritage Foundation, Wednesday, October 30th, 11:00am. Details here. Video via Heritage and possibly C-SPAN.
President Obama and Compliance with Domestic Versus International Law
Last week I asked whether Presidents have a stronger obligation to obey domestic law than they do to obey international law, and suggested at least one argument for that view. In a very interesting pair of posts, Marty Lederman provides reason to think that President Obama may have this view as well. Treaties have legal […]
SCOTUSblog: Questioning Congress’s Legislative Authority to Implement Treaties
By Nick Rosenkranz on August 21, 2013 1:42 pm in Constitutional Law, Federalism, Tenth Amendment, Treaties
The “Academic Highlight” over at SCOTUSblog features Bond v. United States and Executing the Treaty Power.
The Solicitor General’s Brief in Bond v. United States
By Nick Rosenkranz on August 20, 2013 9:42 pm in Constitutional Law, Federalism, Tenth Amendment, Treaties
Regular readers are familiar with Bond v. United States, the pending case that presents the question of whether, per Missouri v. Holland, a treaty can increase the legislative power of Congress. I posted about Paul Clement’s brief on behalf of Ms. Bond here, and I posted about my brief on behalf of the Cato Institute […]
Cato Brief in Bond Featured in National Law Journal
A while ago I posted about a brief that I filed in Bond v. United States on behalf of the Cato Institute et al., arguing that a treaty cannot increase the legislative power of Congress. Over at Cato, Ilya Shapiro reports that the National Law Journal recently featured our brief as its “brief of the […]
Can a Treaty Increase The Power of Congress?
I will be speaking on this topic at the Cato Institute on Friday, June 14, at noon. The inimitable Judge Kozinski will be commenting. Luncheon to follow. Information and registration here.
Bond Amicus Brief for Cato et al.
As regular readers know, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Bond v. United States in January. The case raises the question of whether a treaty can increase the power of Congress. Last week I posted about Paul Clement’s first-rate brief on behalf of the Petitioner. Yesterday, I filed an amicus brief on behalf of the […]
Paul Clement’s Brief for Petitioner in Bond v. United States
As regular readers know, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Bond v. United States in January. The case raises the question of whether a treaty can increase the legislative power of Congress. In 1920, in Missouri v. Holland, the Supreme Court seemed to say yes. In 2005, in the Harvard Law Review, I said no. […]
International Criminal Court Jurisdiction Over Israeli Settlements
I have put up a new working paper on SSRN, entitled Jurisdiction Over Israeli Settlement Activity in the International Criminal Court. It is not about the legality of settlements. Rather, it is about whether repeated and growing threats by Palestine and its supporters to make an international case out of it are consistent with the […]
One Last Clarification on Federalism and the Treaty Power
Before leaving off the subject of federalism and the treaty power, I would like to clarify one aspect of my position. In arguing, as I have from the beginning, that the treaty power cannot expand the scope of federal authority beyond that which is granted by other parts of the Constitution, I do not mean […]