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“[T]hough the [treaty] power is thus general and unrestricted, it is not to be so construed as to destroy the fundamental laws of the state. A power given by the Constitution cannot be construed to authorize a destruction of other powers given in the same instrument.… A treaty to change the organization of the Government, or to annihilate its sovereignty, to overturn its republican form, or to deprive it of its constitutional powers, would be void; because it would destroy what it was designed merely to fulfill, the will of the people.” (Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Story, Limitations on the Treaty-Making Power (5th ed. 1891), Commentaries on the Constitution, Section 1508.)

Related Categories
Constitution: Treaties