The Bricker Amendment

An NRO article by Andrew C. McCarthy on the subject of international law got me thinking about a Neil Boortz column I read a few months ago. About 50 years ago, a U.S. Senator named John Bricker also worried about the nature international law. Senator Bricker proposed a Constitutional amendment which read...

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 have power to regulate all executive and other agreements with any foreign power or international organization. All such agreements shall be subject to the limitations imposed on treaties by this article.
Section 4. The congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.