Q: Does a potential agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons require ratification by the Senate?
—Chuck Ellet, Dunwoody
A: Treaties must be approved by two-thirds of the Senate, but there is a long tradition "recognized by presidents and Congress, and approved by the Supreme Court," of executive agreements.
“Many of these agreements deal with minor or technical issues, but sole executive agreements have recognized and settled claims with the Soviet Union and settled claims with Iran following the hostage crisis,” Harlan Grant Cohen, an associate professor at the University of Georgia’s School of Law, told Q&A on the News in an email.
There have been more than 18,500 executive agreements by presidents, more than 17,000 of those since 1939, according to a Congressional Research Project report.
Cohen said President Barack Obama could use “existing discretion in Iran sanctions legislation to lift most sanctions against Iran without further congressional action. But current or future congressional legislation removing that discretion would probably tie the president’s hands, and future presidents, while bound to the agreement by international law, could constitutionally disavow it.”
Secretary of State John Kerry said last week the U.S. isn’t negotiating a “legally binding plan.”
“We’re negotiating a plan that will have in it the capacity for enforcement,” he said. “We don’t even have diplomatic relations with Iran right now.”
Obama denounced a letter by 47 senators to Iran saying that a nuclear agreement could end when he leaves office.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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