OUVRAGE : D.L. Sloss, The Death of Treaty Supremacy: An Invisible Constitutional Change

David L. SLOSS

This book provides the first detailed history of the Constitution's treaty supremacy rule. It describes a process of invisible constitutional change. The traditional supremacy rule provided that all treaties supersede conflicting state laws; it precluded state governments from violating US treaty obligations. Before 1945, treaty supremacy and self-execution were independent doctrines. Supremacy governed the relationship between treaties and state law. Self-execution governed the division of power over treaty implementation between Congress and the President. In 1945, the US ratified the UN Charter, which obligates nations to promote human rights "for all without distinction as to race."