Reid v. Covert essentially says the U.S. government may not enforce a treaty that calls for it to exercise powers not delegated by the Constitution. It did not overturn Missouri v. Holland because that presumably only involved the exercise of powers that were delegated. The issues on that were not argued, so the Court couldn't go into it, but that case cited the Necessary and Proper Clauses without citing another power clause such as the Commerce Clause for which it was for "carrying into execution". Only the Treaty Clause itself. That essentially elevated the N&P clause into an untethered delegation of power.

All our rights come down to that N&P clause, together with any others to which it might be tethered, such as the Commerce Clause. If the line of precedents that begin with McCulloch v. Maryland are not rolled back, then as far as the federal courts are concerned our rights are only the privileges they deign to bestow on us. See Unnecessary and Improper . I see no way to do that through litigation. It will take amendments to the Constitution, such as those I have proposed.

On 07/11/2011 04:30 PM, Guy Smith wrote:
How are conflicts between federal legislation and treaty requirements
resolved? Since both are codified as "supreme" via the supremacy clause,
which trumps the other?


-- Jon

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