Principle 14

Relationships with other countries should NOT impose on American citizen’s constitutional rights.

“It is the greatest absurdity to suppose it [would be] in the power of one, or any number of men, at the entering into society, to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights; when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defense of those very rights; the principal of which … are life, liberty, and property. If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.” – Samuel Adams

U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Paragraph 2 states:

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land…”

The Laws are made in pursuance of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18), and the treaties are made under the authority of the United States (Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 2). Thus all authority to make Laws and Treaties is delegated from the Constitution. Hence, the Constitution takes precedence over the Laws and the Treaties.

In Reid v. Covert (October 1956) the Supreme Court made the ruling that 1) Treaties do not override the U.S. Constitution; 2) treaties cannot amend the Constitution; and last, 3) A treaty can be nullified by a statute passed before the signing of any treaty.

Their opinion, in part stated:

 “There is nothing in this language which intimates that treaties and laws enacted pursuant to them do not have to comply with the provisions of the Constitution. Nor is there anything in the debates which accompanied the drafting and ratification of the Constitution which even suggests such a result. These debates as well as the history that surrounds the adoption of the treaty provision in Article VI make it clear that the reason treaties were not limited to those made in “pursuance” of the Constitution was so that agreements made by the United States under the Articles of Confederation, including the important peace treaties which concluded the Revolutionary War, would remain in effect.  It would be manifestly contrary to the objectives of those who created the Constitution, as well as those who were responsible for the Bill of Rights – let alone alien to our entire constitutional history and tradition – to construe Article VI as permitting the United States to exercise power under an international agreement without observing constitutional prohibitions. In effect, such construction would permit amendment of that document in a manner not sanctioned by Article V. The prohibitions of the Constitution were designed to apply to all branches of the National Government and they cannot be nullified by the Executive or by the Executive and the Senate combined.

“There is nothing new or unique about what we say here. This Court has regularly and uniformly recognized the supremacy of the Constitution over a treaty.”  – Supreme Court’s opinion

Regardless of the ruling of the Supreme Court, this is the position of the Independent American Patriots.

Principle 22 of Cleon Skousen’s “5000 Year-Leap” states:

“A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.”