Law(Makers) of the Land: The Doctrine of Treaty Non-Self-Execution
Harvard Law Review Forum, Vol. 122, p. 32, 2009
16 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2009 Last revised: 2 Apr 2010
Date Written: 2009
Abstract
This essay responds to Carlos Manuel Vázquez, Treaties as Law of the Land: The Supremacy Clause and the Judicial Enforcement of Treaties, 122 Harv. L. Rev. 599 (2008). Focusing on the authority of the lawmakers of the land, rather than on treaties’ status as law of the land as Professor Vázquez does, this essay concludes that the Foster brand of nonself-execution (which assumes that a treaty may, in the absence of a clear statament, indicate that the treaty is domestically unenforceable) is supported by the Constitution, consistent with longstanding precedent, a coherent part of the non-self-execution doctrine, and endorsed by the Supreme Court's decision in Medellín v. Texas, 128 S. Ct. 1346 (2008).
Keywords: treaty, self-execution, medellin, foreign relations law, medellin, vazquez, foster
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