NAFTA, GATT, and the Bill of Rights

[Eugene Volokh]

Vance Koven writes:

> So, if neither the Fifth Amendment takings clause nor the Seventh
> Amendment survives application of treaty powers, where does that leave the
> First Amendment? And if the answer is "intact," why?

    Before answering these questions, I'd like to be satisfied that
the assumption -- that the Treaty Power abrogates the Takings Clause
or the 7th Am -- is indeed true.  I confess I have not read the
cases, but judging from the description they don't seem to actually
so hold.  Among other things, I'd like to know whether lawsuits
against foreign sovereign immunities were traditionally seen as
actions at common law, or were always handled specially (as I imagine
they might have been).

---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              Eugene Volokh
                                              UCLA Law School
                                              (310) 206-3926
                                              fax (310) 206-7010