Earlier this month two former members of the Bush Administration published on op-ed in the New York Times encouraging the Senate to use it's treaty power to keep President Obama check. The argument is simply breath-taking when you stop to consider that these two individuals played an important role in the Bush Administration's power grab after September 11. During their years in service, these two men were part of an effort to create an imperial presidency that had no use for the checks and balances built into the Constitution. They were part of an effort to keep secrets from Congress. They were part of a group that consistently told the Supreme Court it had no jurisdiction to review decisions made by the President.
So why do these two who once advocated for a supreme President now want Congress to keep the new President in check via the Treaty Clause of the Constitution? Simple really. Pursuant to the Treaty Clause, the President needs 66 votes in the Senate to ratify a treaty. These two former Bush aides are scared to death of the U.S. losing it's sovereignty by signing treaties dealing with global warming and international war crimes tribunals (read their op-ed and you will see what I mean). By claiming that the President should be forced to use the usual treaty route (the article explains, and student in my Constitutional Law class learn, how Presidents can get around the Treaty Clause), they are banking on the 41 Republican members of the U.S. Senate voting against such treaties, effectively defeating ratification.
A simply shameless argument, really, but not wholly unexpected. Look for more of this kind of back-tracking by people who supported the imperial presidency of George Bush. Now that they are out of power, an all powerful President doesn't seem like such a good idea. Go figure.
