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Free-Trade Masquerade: Fast Track Authority, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Constitutional Tipping Point, Part 1
After the mid-term elections, you may have heard Mitch McConnell make public statements about the GOP being willing to work with President Obama to push through free-trade agreements. McConnell said that GOP leaders favor free trade and believe it brings prosperity to the country.
What you may not know is that the President is asking Congress to renew what is known as Fast Track Authority, allowing the President to negotiate and even sign trade treaties without the participation of the United States Congress. Under Fast Track Authority, the President calls for Congress to vote either up or down on a treaty without allowing time for debate. Congress may not amend or filibuster the treaty. Instead of the two-thirds majority approval needed to pass a treaty mandated by the United States Constitution, a fast track treaty needs only a simple 51% majority approval. {IF THE TREATY IS PASSED THIS WAY IT MEANS IT IS ONLY FOR THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES THAT IT DOES NOT BIND THE STATES. THE US WOULD THEN BE A LOW CONTRACTING PARTY AFAIK.}{WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVT DOES SOMETHING THAT ABROGATES THE CONSTITUTION THEY ARE DOING IT BECAUSE THE ACT OR REGULATION IS ONLY BINDING ON THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES BUT UNSUSPECTING STATE ACTORS MIGHT BE CLUELESS AS TO THIS.}What Leaked Documents Tell Us About the TPP{IT MIGHT BE THAT THE "AMERICANS" THEY ARE ABLE TO EXERCISE AUTHORITY OVER ARE THOSE PERSONS BORN SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES WHO RESIDE IN DISTRICT-STATES.}{Note: the idea that treaties of the United States become part of "the Law of the Land" mean AFAIK that Federal courts are required to take judicial notice of standing treaties. That is, treaties do not necessarily become law within the several states. The treaty making power delegated to the Unite States Government by States under the Constitution of the United States are international treaty-making power not an internal law-making power. As in, if there is a fishing treaty and a Japanese fishing company is fined by the United States in U.S. waters, the court has to take the treaties into consideration--so if the treaty limits the amount of the find the Japanese fishing company can point to the limit of the treaty the treaty does not make laws internal to the several states. Treaties cannot over-ride land rights within the state. If there was some dispute between a US company and a foreign company in Maryland over some pricing issue, judicial notice would have to extend to applicable treaties--but the laws of Maryland would not be generally effected. AFAIK a delegate has no more power than the power delegated and the delgator can delegate no more power than he or she has.}
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After the mid-term elections, you may have heard Mitch McConnell make public statements about the GOP being willing to work with President Obama to push through free-trade agreements. McConnell said that GOP leaders favor free trade and believe it brings prosperity to the country.
What you may not know is that the President is asking Congress to renew what is known as Fast Track Authority, allowing the President to negotiate and even sign trade treaties without the participation of the United States Congress. Under Fast Track Authority, the President calls for Congress to vote either up or down on a treaty without allowing time for debate. Congress may not amend or filibuster the treaty. Instead of the two-thirds majority approval needed to pass a treaty mandated by the United States Constitution, a fast track treaty needs only a simple 51% majority approval. {IF THE TREATY IS PASSED THIS WAY IT MEANS IT IS ONLY FOR THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES THAT IT DOES NOT BIND THE STATES. THE US WOULD THEN BE A LOW CONTRACTING PARTY AFAIK.}{WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVT DOES SOMETHING THAT ABROGATES THE CONSTITUTION THEY ARE DOING IT BECAUSE THE ACT OR REGULATION IS ONLY BINDING ON THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES BUT UNSUSPECTING STATE ACTORS MIGHT BE CLUELESS AS TO THIS.}What Leaked Documents Tell Us About the TPP{IT MIGHT BE THAT THE "AMERICANS" THEY ARE ABLE TO EXERCISE AUTHORITY OVER ARE THOSE PERSONS BORN SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES WHO RESIDE IN DISTRICT-STATES.}{Note: the idea that treaties of the United States become part of "the Law of the Land" mean AFAIK that Federal courts are required to take judicial notice of standing treaties. That is, treaties do not necessarily become law within the several states. The treaty making power delegated to the Unite States Government by States under the Constitution of the United States are international treaty-making power not an internal law-making power. As in, if there is a fishing treaty and a Japanese fishing company is fined by the United States in U.S. waters, the court has to take the treaties into consideration--so if the treaty limits the amount of the find the Japanese fishing company can point to the limit of the treaty the treaty does not make laws internal to the several states. Treaties cannot over-ride land rights within the state. If there was some dispute between a US company and a foreign company in Maryland over some pricing issue, judicial notice would have to extend to applicable treaties--but the laws of Maryland would not be generally effected. AFAIK a delegate has no more power than the power delegated and the delgator can delegate no more power than he or she has.}
(more/source)
Related: