The Treaty-Making Power

Abstract

Professor Myres S. McDougal led a discussion on the American Bar Association resolution relative to the proposed constitutional amendments to limit the treaty-making power. Mr. Lyman M. Tondel, Jr., Chairman of the Section of International and Comparative Law of the American Bar Association, was also present to express his views. A member of the American Bar Association Committee on "Peace and Law through United Nations" had been invited to defend the resolution, but was not present at the meeting. Professor McDougal expressed his extreme regret at this absence. Professor McDougal opened the discussion by reading the American Bar Association resolution and Senator Bricker's resolution. He considered these proposals under five heads: I. The kind of foreign affairs power the United States needs in the contemporary world. II. The kind of foreign affairs power we now have in the United States. III. The conditions that produced the present structure of control over foreign affairs and the significance of such conditions for our contemporary national interests. IV. The current criticisms of our foreign affairs powers and the assumptions upon which these criticisms are based. V. The validity of the current criticisms when assessed against our contemporary need.