I'm rather baffled by this line, from the end of the article:
> The agreement does not require congressional approval.
How can that possibly be true?
EDIT: Some detail. The U.S. Constitution says that treaties made "under the Authority of the United States" are "the supreme Law of the Land" (Article VI). But it also says (Article II) that 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; ...."
That last bit about the Senate would seem to contradict the above statement. Or perhaps ACTA does not require Senate confirmation, but then it isn't the supreme law of the land.
Speaking of the Constitution, the paragraph just after that which you've cited from Article VI is interesting:
"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; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
My interpretation, which seems to be supported by [1]: no treaty may expand the powers of government beyond those enumerated by the Constitution. If it is shown to (which seems likely given al the secrecy), it becomes unenforceable and we learn who to recall from office.
Well it's about fucking time. I posted a link to wikipedia in mid-December showing that treaty negotiations are set to conclude in January, and I tripped the spam filter. I said it there and I'll say it again, we've got to do something.
It doesn't matter if you're not interested in politics. Politics is interested in you. If you don't want to get f*d in the ass do something about it. I called and mailed all the congressman for my state. If I knew how I'd set up a site with free VOIP + contact info so people could call and complain.
I think Skype has a HUGE interest in making sure this treaty isn't signed. I emailed them asking for VOIP to help. Any other HN'ers have ideas/have done anything?
If that treaty gets ratified in anything close to it's current form I'm pretty sure I would not be alone in saying that I would immediately start looking for a new country to move to...
United States, the European Commission, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.
It's not slam dunk in EU -- even if the commission is participating in it, passing stuff still requires most member countries to approve. A stink will be raised.
> The agreement does not require congressional approval.
How can that possibly be true?
EDIT: Some detail. The U.S. Constitution says that treaties made "under the Authority of the United States" are "the supreme Law of the Land" (Article VI). But it also says (Article II) that 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; ...."
That last bit about the Senate would seem to contradict the above statement. Or perhaps ACTA does not require Senate confirmation, but then it isn't the supreme law of the land.