Here is a message from my teacher that I need to respond to, can you please help by providing an example of how I should respond? Thank you.

From professor:

Everyone:

I will start things off this week with a monologue, just like the Tonight Show, however, with fewer jokes.

The under pinning this week's question is the concept of sovereignty. Sovereignty is the ability to make and enforce the rules of society. It is the power over society. See: Soverignty. National sovereignty is the ability of an organized state to rule itself without interference from any outside forces. Sovereignty may be vested in a monarch who makes all the rules for a state or in some other form of government. In the United States, such power is vested in our state governments. However, some of the power is bestowed on the federal government by the US Constitution.See the Tenth Amendment: Tenth Amendment.

International Law is derived from treaties thatnation states enter into. We see such things as the UN Treaty, the various economic alliances such as NAFTA and the European Union. The ability of our federal government to enter into treaties on behalf of the US is found in the Foreign Commerce Clause, (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) and in the Treaty Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2. States are prohibited from making treaties with foreign countries. See Article I, Section 10: Article I.

The process of making treaties starts with the president. He or she can make a treaty with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate. The legal effect of a treaty is that it becomes the supreme law of the land and can override domestic law. See: Treaty Powers. Treaties, in effect, can override the legislative process. The conceptual problem is that treaties may convey a nation state's sovereign power to an international organization. This is the essence of the UN Treaty and many more. Consider that such bodies as the World Trade Organization can impose penalties for violation of its underlying treaty. See Topic 11.7 in the learning materials for this week.

Know that not all treaties the president negotiates receive Senate approval. Most notably in our history is the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. It included a provision to establish the League of Nations, precursor to the United Nations, and at that time many in the US objected to. See: Treaty of Verailles. Here is a link to the Office of Treaty Affairs of the US State Department that lists treaties pending Senate approval. Note that some have been waiting a long time. See: Pending Treaties .

What do you think? Feel free to respond.