Enforcing the Treaty Rights of Aliens

Abstract

Despite the Supremacy Clause’s declaration that treaties are the “Law of the Land,” efforts to incorporate treaties that guarantee individual rights into domestic law have been stymied by a wave of political opposition. Critics argue that giving these treaties the force of domestic law would be inconsistent with constitutional values like sovereignty, democracy, federalism, and separation of powers. This Note analyzes these four critiques and demonstrates that the values critics seek to protect are not jeopardized by the extraterritorial application of treaty-based rights or the domestic enforcement of treaties that guarantee rights specific to aliens. With that discovery in mind, this Note proposes to incorporate such treaties into U.S. law in a way that both affirms constitutional values and promotes the rule of law in foreign affairs.