Scholars Say ACTA Needs Senate Approval

suraj.sun passes along this excerpt from Wired: "More than 70 academics, mostly legal scholars, are urging President Barack Obama to open a proposed international intellectual-property agreement to public review before signing it. The likely route for that is bringing the [Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement] to the Senate for ratification. ... the intellectual property accord, which Obama could sign by year's end, has pretty much been hammered out in secret between the European Union, Japan, the United States and a few other international players, including Canada and Australia. Noticeably absent is China. That said, these academics suggested that Obama does not have the authority to unilaterally sign the accord, which has been in the works for three years and is nearly final. Instead, they said, it should be considered a treaty, necessitating two-thirds Senate approval."

Comments

Scholars, you say?

[betterunixthanunix]

When was the last time the president -- any president in recent memory -- ever listened to what scholars had to say, except when what they say supports his policy?

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[dkleinsc]

For the curious, Article 2, Section 2:
"[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur."

Treaties of the United States have to be ratified by the Senate. This is hardly news.

Can we think rationally here?

[Anonymous Coward]

In brief, this article says: "Scholars are begging the President to take public input before signing an agreement worked out in secret with other government's leaders."

Does that sound like democracy to you? Does it even sound like a democratic republic?

Right now, we are ruled by a king (albeit an elected one, though elections of course are won by the best-funded) who we have to beg to take input from the people. There is no democracy in there at all.

When will we learn to open source all forms of governance, and let everyone have a real say in the things that deeply affect their own lives?

A fancy form of direct democracy might not be perfect, but could it be any worse than this sort of plutocratic authoritarianism we live under now?

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Yes, but Obama is trying to pass this off as being something other than a treaty.

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[Shakrai]

That can't be, he ran on a platform of openness and transparency.

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[Compaqt]

Reason: GOP gets Chamber of Commerce support, Dems get Hollywood support.

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[Compaqt]

I tell you, Bush Jr. is trampling all over the Constitution. I can't wait for the day he's replaced. ...

Oops.

Wait for the Supreme Court Case

[jasenj1]

Unless the Republicans take control of the Senate in a few days, the Senate is unlikely to question the President's authority. He can call it an Executive Agreement, or whatever he wants; a Senate controlled by his political party will most likely let him do what he likes. Then these law professors and whoever can file a law suit of some sort, it can wend its way through the court system for several years until the current players are out of office, and eventually 5-10 years (or more) from now the Supreme Court can decide if ACTA is really a Treaty that requires Senate approval or not.

We are not a nation of laws, but a nation of political parties. Whichever party is in charge will pass whatever laws they want regardless of Constitutionality.

Cynical? Just a bit.

- Jasen.

Re:Wait for the Supreme Court Case

[langelgjm]

Even if Republicans take control of the Senate, it won't matter for ACTA. Intellectual property policy is one of the few truly bipartisan issues in Washington. ACTA is just not that big of a political issue for Republicans to want to halt for the purpose of obstructing Obama, and Republicans would have their own reasons for supporting it. There are only a couple of people who have been critical of ACTA in the Senate... Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown. Aside from that, not many other people are paying attention to it.

Another indication it's bipartisan - remember, ACTA talks were started under the Bush administration. Then they continued, pretty much without a hitch, under the new Obama administration. Honestly that's pretty impressive, there aren't too many issues where you get that kind of continuity with a party change.

Re:Wait for the Supreme Court Case

[dkleinsc]

Well, you're missing the cases in which both parties get together to screw the little people over, such as the USA Patriot Act (the major reason I seriously hope Russ Feingold keeps his seat).

Re:Bad move

[alSeen]

Treaties do NOT supersede the Constitution.

"This [Supreme] Court has regularly and uniformly recognized the supremacy of the Constitution over a treaty." - Reid v. Covert, October 1956, 354 U.S. 1, at pg 17

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[VGPowerlord]

The question comes down to whether this is a Treaty, which would require the advice and consent of 2/3rds of the Senate, or whether it's an Executive Agreement, which ultimately comes down to just an agreement between the executive branches of other agreeing nations and signed by the Executive. Nowadays, Executive Agreements are the norm in foreign policy and not Treaties.

er... yeah:

The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries

-- US Constitution, Article I Section 8.

That would prevent an executive order from changing Copyright or Patent laws.

Re:Bad move

[Jaysyn]

This has become a popular meme in politics, but it simply isn't true. Re: Reid v. Covert, October 1956

More info here, here, & here.

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[SirGarlon]

The same way the president can issue edicts that are not laws, they're "Executive Orders." Or the Guantanamo prisoners are not prisoners of war, they're "Enemy Combatants." Or security for the G8 summit is not suppressing dissent, it's "designating Free Speech Zones." Sometimes the law or the Constitution is inconvenient to the President, so he makes up a new label for something he's not allowed to do, and decrees that the law or Constitution doesn't apply because of that label.

This is not a Democrat/Republican thing: George W. Bush and Obama are pretty different from one another yet they have both used these shenanigans routinely. It's a "power corrupts" thing. (Or perhaps a "Congress is asleep at the wheel" thing, or a "why haven't the people stormed the White House with torches and pitchforks?" thing.)

Re:We need scholars to tell us that?

[ffreeloader]

That can't be, he ran on a platform of openness and transparency.

And this has been ongoing for over 3 years, which means Mr Obama didn't even originate it.

What's that got to do with it? He's going to implement it, and bypass Congress to do it if he can get away with it. He is not required to complete something this stupid. He's going to implement it because increasing government power, with the necessarily required reduction in personal freedom that a more powerful government is predicated upon, is his goal. The sum of everything he's done since he's been in office is: more power to government, less freedom for the individual.