The focus of the course will be on the U.S. constitutional structure and how that affects the role the United States plays in the international domain. We will inquire into how the Constitution enables and constrains the manner in which the United States government participates in lawmaking internationally and how that in turn affects private rights within the United States. An international lawyer working in this country will surely need to be familiar with constitutional and other legal constraints that govern our relationship with the outside world. And a domestic lawyer to be effective in this day of global interdependence will need to be familiar with the international process that continuously shapes the nature of the constitutional order in this country and our very understanding of the Constitution itself. Some of the areas that will be covered in the course are: foreign relations and the separation of powers doctrine; the scope of and limitation on the treaty power; presidential power to conclude international agreements outside Article II treaty power; constitutional and domestic status of customary international law; foreign sovereign immunity and the act of state doctrine; congressional and presidential war-making powers; constitutional rights and the war on terrorism; extraterritorial application of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. laws; and the power of states in relation to foreign affairs. (3 Credits)

Semester

Fall 2019

Instructor(s)

Adeno Addis

Academic Area(s)

Constitutional Law & Civil Rights