3 of 15

No

Write now Article Tools

In the so-called "Supremacy Clause", article VI of the US Constitution states:

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."

International law, as it applies to the United States, consists of obligations pursuant to the treaties to which the Supremacy Clause refers, hence it constitutes a part of the supreme law of the land. Being the highest court of appeals in the US, the Supreme Court makes the ultimate decisions on the cases it hears based on the supreme law of the land, hence, on its face, it would seem as though international law should have a significant effect on Supreme Court decisions.

Matters, however, are not that simple, as both statutory law and international law may conflict with the Constitution. An implied power of judicial review, affirmed in case after case, applies to statutory law, as only laws made "in Pursuance" of the Constitution are set up as coequal constituents of the supreme law of the land. No such explicit restriction applies to treaties.

The Constitution concerns itself mainly with domestic matters, whereas treaties, traditionally, concern intrinsically transnational matters such as the laws of the sea, trade, settling of borders, and the laws of war. In the internationalist post-WWII fervor, the U.S. entered into several agreements, most notably the bizarre, socialist Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which appeared to bargain away the basic liberties of Americans. The treaty-making power appeared to give international socialists and a leftist President a backdoor means to usurp Congress's law-making power and impose social democracy on Americans.

The classical-liberal Old Right, led by Senator John Bricker of Ohio, was duly worried, and sought, by constitutional amendment, to resolve the simmering constitutional crisis before it came to a boil. One version of the Bricker Amendment, revised and reintroduced several times, read as follows:

Section 1. A provision of a treaty which conflicts with this Constitution
shall not be of any force or effect.

Section 2. A treaty shall become effective as internal law in the United
States only through legislation which would be valid in the absence of
treaty.

Section 3. Congress shall

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Should international law have a significant effect on Supreme Court decisions??
We want to hear your view. Write now!