The Vindication of John Bricker

IT has been about a quarter of a century since the late Senator John Bricker proposed the famous Bricker Amendment to prevent our foreign agreements from overriding American domestic law. At that time, the amendment ran into such a buzz saw of liberal opposition and such a cacophony of denunciation by one-worlders that it never received the full discussion it deserved. Indeed, it has taken some 25 years for the government finally to prove how right the Senator was.

The dramatic demonstration of all this is contained in a little-noticed treaty already signed by the State Department and submitted to the Senate for ratification.

JK

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John Kaplan

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IT has been about a quarter of a century since the late Senator John Bricker proposed the famous Bricker Amendment to prevent our foreign agreements from overriding American domestic law. At that time, the amendment ran into such a buzz saw of liberal opposition and such a cacophony of denunciation by one-worlders that it never received the full discussion it deserved. Indeed, it has taken some 25 years for the government finally to prove how right the Senator was.

The dramatic demonstration of all this is contained in a little-noticed treaty already signed by the State Department and submitted to the Senate for ratification.