Panel III: Roles of the President and Congress

Abstract

PROFESSOR KOH: Our first speaker, Professor Andreas Lowenfeld, is a law professor at the New York University School of Law where he specializes in public and private international law and international economic transactions. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Professor Lowenfeld served in various posts in the Office of Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State from 1961 to 1966. He has written numerous books on international economic law, including a case book on international trade. Perhaps he is most famous for his role as an associate reporter of the Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law, I which some call the "Prestatement of Foreign Relations Law." He is particularly well qualified to speak to these issues, not only because of his work in the State Department, but also because, as we shall see, this is an area in which many cases are nonjusticiable, and therefore many of the rules end up being the result of constitutional custom. A source book like the Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law, which sets forth blackletter principles, ends up having enormous influence, not only when cases do get to court, but when Executive branch officials and Congresspeople try to determine the correct allocation of power.