This book describes the constitutional law of foreign affairs, derived from the historical understanding of the Constitution's text. It examines timeless and recurring foreign affairs controversies--such as the role of the president and Congress, the power to enter armed conflict, and the power to make and break treaties--and shows how the words, structure, and context of the Constitution can resolve pivotal court cases and leading modern disputes. The book provides a counterpoint to much conventional discussion of constitutional foreign affairs law, which tends to assume that the Constitution's text and history cannot give much guidance, and which rests many of its arguments upon modern practice and policy considerations.

Using a close focus on the text and a wide array of historical sources, Michael Ramsey argues that the Constitution's original design gives the president substantial independent powers in foreign affairs. But, contrary to what many presidents and presidential advisors contend, these powers are balanced by the independent powers given to Congress, the Senate, the states, and the courts. The Constitution, Ramsey concludes, does not make any branch of government the ultimate decision maker in foreign affairs, but rather divides authority among multiple independent power centers.

Contents
Acknowledgments		
Introduction: A Textual Theory of Foreign Affairs Law	
Part I: Sources of National Power
1. Do Foreign Affairs Powers Come from the Constitution? Curtiss-	Wright and the Myth of Inherent Powers	00
2. Foreign Affairs and the Articles of Confederation: The 	Constitution in Context	00
Part II: Presidential Power in Foreign Affairs
3. The Steel Seizure Case and the Executive Power over Foreign 	Affairs	00
4. Executive Foreign Affairs Power and the Washington 	Administration	00
5. Steel Seizure Revisited: The Limits of Executive Power	000
6. Executive Power and Its Critics		000
Part III: Shared Powers of the Senate
7. The Executive Senate: Treaties and Appointments		000
8. Goldwater v. Carter: Do Treaties Bind the President?		000
9. The Non-Treaty Power: Executive Agreements and United States 	v. Belmont		000
Part IV: Congress's Foreign Affairs Powers
10. Legislative Power in Foreign Affairs: Why NAFTA Is (Sort of) 	Unconstitutional		000
11. The Meanings of Declaring War	000
12. Beyond Declaring War: War Powers of Congress and the 	President	000
Part V: States and Foreign Affairs
13. Can States Have Foreign Policies? Zschernig v. Miller and the 	Limits of Framers' Intent		000
14. States versus the President: The Holocaust Insurance Case	000
15. Missouri v. Holland and the Seventeenth Amendment	000
Part VI: Courts and Foreign Affairs
16. Judging Foreign Affairs: Goldwater v. Carter Revisited	000
17. The Paquete Habana: Is International Law Part of Our Law?	000
18. Courts and Presidents in Foreign Affairs		000
Conclusion: Text as Law in Foreign Affairs	000
Notes
Index