Law(Makers) of the Land: The Doctrine of Treaty Non-Self-Execution

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