PRESIDENTIAL POWER TO REJOIN TREATIES AFTER WITHDRAWAL on research by
J E A N GA L B R A I T H Professor of Law
As President Donald J. Trump continues to exercise his authority to unilaterally withdraw the United States from international agreements, a vital new article by University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor of Law Jean Galbraith illuminates how and why future presidents can use their power to reenter the same agreements without returning to Congress for renewed advice and consent. “Rejoining Treaties,” forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review, addresses an underexplored question of separation of powers and international law that has become increasingly urgent in the current polarized political climate: “Does the original Senate resolution of advice and consent to a treaty remain effective even after a President has withdrawn the United States from [that] treaty?” Delving deep into the constitutional and theoretical underpinnings of presidential and Congressional authority relating to treaties, the article answers that question in the affirmative, providing a valuable framework that has the potential to increase stability in the international order. Jean Galbraith is a scholar of U.S. foreign relations law and public international law. Her work focuses on the allocation of legal authority among U.S. governmental actors and, at the international level, between domestic actors and international regimes.
“The Trump administration has yet to run its course, but it seems clear that there will be rebuilding on many fronts at the end of it. With respect to treaties, we do not yet know how many will be undone before the end of President Trump’s term[.]”
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