The Death of Treaty Supremacy Format: Paperback

This book provides the first detailed history of the Constitution's treaty supremacy rule. The traditional supremacy rule precluded state governments from violating U.S. treaty obligations. After a 1950 California court decision implied that the United States had effectively abrogated Jim Crow laws by ratifying the UN Charter, conservatives achieved a de facto constitutional change. This created a novel exception that permits state governments to violate some treaties. The death of treaty supremacy has significant implications for U.S. foreign policy and for U.S. compliance with its treaty obligations.

David L. Sloss is Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law. His scholarship focuses on the application of international law in domestic courts, with specializations in international human rights, treaties, U.S. foreign relations law, and constitutional law. He is the editor of The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement: A Comparative Study (2009), and co-editor of International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: Continuity and Change (2011). He has published numerous articles on the history of U.S. foreign affairs law and the judicial enforcement of treaties in domestic courts. Professor Sloss received his B.A. from Hampshire College, his M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School. He taught for nine years at Saint Louis University School of Law. Before he was a law professor, he worked for the U.S. government on arms control and nuclear proliferation issues.