Case Name: Mickey EDWARDS, Member of Congress, Oklahoma, et al., Appellants, v. James Earl CARTER, President of the United States
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Jurisdiction: District of Columbia
Decision Date: 1978-04-06
Citations: 189 U.S. App. D.C. 1
Docket Number: No. 78-1166
Parties: Mickey EDWARDS, Member of Congress, Oklahoma, et al., Appellants, v. James Earl CARTER, President of the United States.
Judges: Before FAHY, Senior Circuit Judge, and McGOWAN and MacKINNON, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Volume: 189
Pages: 1–67

Head Matter:
580 F.2d 1055
Mickey EDWARDS, Member of Congress, Oklahoma, et al., Appellants, v. James Earl CARTER, President of the United States.
No. 78-1166.
United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.
Argued March 10, 1978.
Decided April 6, 1978.
Certiorari Denied May 15,1978.
See 98 S.Ct. 2240.
As Amended May 18 and June 13, 1978.
Rehearing Denied June 1, 1978.
Robert E. Kopp, Atty., Dept, of Justice, Washington, D. C., with whom Steven I. Frank, and Brook Hedge, Attys., Dept, of Justice, Washington, D. C., were on the motion for summary affirmance, for appellee.
Daniel J. Popeo, Washington, D. C., with whom Joel D. Joseph and Paul D. Kamenar, Washington, D. C., were on the motion for an injunction pending appeal and the motion for summary reversal, for appellants.
Before FAHY, Senior Circuit Judge, and McGOWAN and MacKINNON, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
Opinion PER CURIAM.
Dissenting opinion filed by MacKINNON, Circuit Judge.
PER CURIAM:
This is an appeal from the District Court's dismissal of a challenge to appellee's use of the treaty power to convey to the Republic of Panama United States properties, including the Panama Canal, located in the Panama Canal Zone. Appel lants, sixty members of the House of Representatives, sought a declaratory judgment that the exclusive means provided in the Constitution for disposal of United States property requires approval of both Houses of Congress, see Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2, and that therefore the Panama Canal Zone may not be returned to Panama through the Treaty process, which invests the treaty-making power in the President by and with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senators present, see Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. Appellee contends that the Constitution permits United States territory to be disposed of either through congressional legislation or through the treaty process, and that therefore the President's decision to proceed under the treaty power is constitutionally permissible.
The District Court did not reach the merits of this controversy; rather, it dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction after concluding that appellants lacked standing because they had failed to demonstrate injury in fact from the President's invocation of the treaty process. A notice of appeal and a request for a preliminary injunction pending appeal were immediately filed with this court. Appellee has moved for summary affirmance of the District Court's judgment either on the jurisdictional ground stated by the District Court or on the merits of appellants' contention; appellants have moved for summary reversal. We have heard oral argument and have considered the case on an expedited basis. For the reasons appearing below, we affirm the dismissal of the complaint, not on the jurisdictional ground relied on by the District Court but for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted.
I
In addition to its argument on the merits, appellee has presented several substantial and complex challenges to the jurisdiction of the federal courts to adjudicate the merits of the constitutional question presented in this case. We refer not only to the contentions as to lack of standing, but also to the arguments that appellants' action is both premature and presents a nonjusticiable political question. Deciding only the jurisdictional issue before us could result in this court, or the Supreme Court, remanding the case for further proceedings either on the merits or on jurisdictional issues. Because the merits of this controversy present a pure question of law, with no need of a hearing for fact development, because these merits are so clearly against the parties asserting jurisdiction, and because the judgment appealed from was based on only one of several asserted grounds of lack of jurisdiction, we believe it is appropriate to proceed directly to the merits of this case. This conclusion is bolstered when the time constraints imposed by the immediacy of Senate action on the treaties are considered. See Adams v. Vance, 187 U.S.App.D.C. 41, at 45, n.7, 570 F.2d 950 at 954 n.7 (1978), and cases cited therein.
Consequently, the precise question we address is whether the constitutional delegation found in Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2 is exclusive so as to prohibit the disposition of United States property by self-executing treaty — i. e., a treaty enacted in accordance with Art. II, § 2, cl. 2, which becomes effective without implementing legislation.
II
Article IV, § 3, cl. 2 of the Constitution states in its entirety:
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Appellants contend that this clause gives Congress exclusive power to convey to foreign nations any property, such as the Panama Canal, owned by the United States. We find such a construction to be at odds with the wording of this and similar grants of power to the Congress, and, most significantly, with the history of the constitutional debates.
The grant of authority to Congress under the property clause states that "The Congress shall have Power . . .," not that only the Congress shall have power, or that the Congress shall have exclusive power. In this respect the property clause is parallel to Article I, § 8, which also states that "The Congress shall have Power . . ." Many of the powers thereafter enumerated in § 8 involve matters that were at the time the Constitution was adopted, and that are at the present time, also commonly the subject of treaties. The most prominent example of this is the regulation of commerce with foreign nations, Art. 1, § 8, cl. 3, and appellants do not go so far as to contend that the treaty process is not a constitutionally allowable means for regulating foreign commerce. It thus seems to us that, on its face, the property clause is intended not to restrict the scope of the treaty clause, but, rather, is intended to permit Congress to accomplish through legislation what may concurrently be accomplished through other means provided in the Constitution.
The American Law Institute's Restatement of Foreign Relations, directly addressing this issue, comes to the same conclusion we reach:
The mere fact, however, that a congressional power exists does not mean that the power is exclusive so as to preclude the making of a self-executing treaty within the area of that power.
ALI Restatement of Foreign Relations Law (2d), § 141, at 435 (1965). The section of the Restatement relied on by the dissent merely states that the treaty power, like all powers granted to the United States, is limited by other restraints found in the Constitution on the exercise of governmental power. (Rest.For.Rel. § 117). Of course the correctness of this proposition as a matter of constitutional law is clear. See Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1, 77 S.Ct. 1222, 1 L.Ed.2d 1148 (1957); Geoffroy v. Riggs, 133 U.S. 258, 10 S.Ct. 295, 33 L.Ed. 642 (1890); Asakura v. Seattle, 265 U.S. 332, 44 S.Ct. 515, 68 L.Ed. 1041 (1924), also relied on by the dissent. To urge, as does the dissent, that the transfer of the Canal Zone property by treaty offends this well-settled principle — that the treaty power can only be exercised in a manner which conforms to the Constitution — begs the very question to be decided, namely, whether Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2 places in the Congress the exclusive authority to dispose of United States property.
There are certain grants of authority to Congress which are, by their very terms, exclusive. In these areas, the treaty-making power and the power of Congress are not concurrent; rather, the only department of the federal government authorized to take action is the Congress. For instance, the Constitution expressly provides only one method — congressional enactment — for the appropriation of money:
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.
Art. I, § 9, cl. 7. Thus, the expenditure of funds by the United States cannot be accomplished by self-executing treaty; implementing legislation appropriating such funds is indispensable. Similarly, the constitutional mandate that "all Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives," Art. 1, § 7, cl. 1, appears, by reason of the restrictive language used, to prohibit the use of the treaty power to impose taxes.
These particular grants of power to Congress operate to limit the treaty power because the language of these provisions clearly precludes any method of appropriating money or raising taxes other than through the enactment of laws by the full Congress. This is to be contrasted with the power-granting language in Art. 1, § 8, and in Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2. Rather than stating the particular matter of concern and providing that the enactment of a law is the only way for the federal government to take action regarding that matter, these provisions state simply that Congress shall have power to take action on the matters enumerated.
Thus it appears from the very language used in the property clause that this provision was not intended to preclude the availability of self-executing treaties as a means for disposing of United States property. The history of the drafting and ratification of that clause confirms this conclusion. The other clause in Art. IV, § 3 concerns the procedures for admission of new states into the Union, and the debates at the Constitutional Convention clearly demonstrate that the property clause was intended to delineate the role to be played by the central government in the disposition of Western lands which were potential new states. Several individual states had made territorial claims to portions of these lands; and as finally enacted the property clause, introduced in the midst of the Convention's consideration of the admission of new states, sought to preserve both federal claims and conflicting state claims to certain portions of the Western lands.
The proceedings of the Virginia state ratifying convention provide further evidence of the limited scope of the property clause. During a debate in which the meaning of the clause was questioned, Mr. Grayson noted that the sole purpose for including this provision was to preserve the property rights of the states and the federal government to the Western territory as these rights existed during the Confederation.
This history demonstrates the limited concerns giving rise to the inclusion of Article IV, § 3, cl. 2 in the Constitution. Whether or not this historical perspective might serve as a basis for restricting the scope of congressional power under the property clause, we view it as persuasive evidence for rejecting the claim that Article IV is an express limitation on the treaty power, foreclosing the availability of that process as a constitutionally permissible means of disposing of American interests in the Panama Canal Zone.
Ill
The debates over the treaty clause at the Constitutional Convention and state ratify ing conventions even more directly demonstrate the Framers' intent to permit the disposition of United States property by treaty without House approval. As originally reported to the Convention, authority to make treaties would have been entrusted to a majority of the Senate, without even Presidential participation. However, this structure was thought to entrust too much power to the Senate, and the provision was subsequently amended to include an active Presidential role. Nonetheless, concern over the extensive scope of the power remained; particularly worrisome was the potential use of treaties as a means of effecting territorial cessions. Elbridge Gerry expressed this fear when he noted that "[i]n Treaties of peace the dearest interests will be at stake, as the fisheries, territory, etc. In treaties of peace also there is more danger to the extremities of the Continent, of being sacrificed than on any other occasion."
Concern about the sweeping character of the treaty clause led to several proposed amendments aimed at limiting its exercise. One amendment would have restricted this power by requiring that "no Treaty of Peace affecting Territorial rights should be made without the concurrence of two thirds of the (members of the Senate present.)" For some delegates, however, merely increasing the level of Senate approval did not go far enough towards ensuring the proper exercise of the treaty power. Thus Connecticut's Roger Sherman proposed an amendment providing that "no such [territorial] rights should be ceded without the sanction of the Legislature."
The Committee of Eleven, in whose hands this issue finally rested, rejected the proposed amendment for House participation. Instead, a provision requiring a two-thirds Senate vote for the passage of all treaties was adopted. This choice clearly indicates the Framers' satisfaction was a supermajoritarian requirement in the Senate, rather than House approval, to serve as a check upon the improvident cession of United States territory.
That the two-thirds voting requirement did not affect the scope of the treaty power, but only made ratification of treaties more difficult, was clearly understood at the state ratifying conventions. An amendment proposed at the Virginia Convention provided that
no treaty ceding, contracting, restraining, or suspending the territorial rights or claims of the United States shall be made, but in case of the most urgent and extreme necessity; nor shall any such treaty be ratified without the concurrence of three fourths of the whole number of the members of both houses respectively.
This, and a similar amendment offered at the North Carolina Convention, evidence the broad interpretation given Article II, § 2 at the time of its inception. As was true of the effort at the Constitutional Convention to introduce House participation in ratification of treaties, these state attempts to limit the treaty power as now contained in the Constitution also failed.
That those who framed and ratified the Constitution rejected several express attempts to limit the treaty power in the manner now urged by appellants greatly undermines the interpretation of that power they press upon us. From this evidence we conclude that the disposition of property pursuant to the treaty power and without the express approval of the House of Representatives was both contemplated and authorized by the makers of the Constitution.
IV
In view of the lack of ambiguity as to the intended effects of the treaty and property clauses, it may be surprising that judicial pronouncements over the past two centuries relating to these constitutional provisions are somewhat vague and conflicting. However, none of the actual holdings in these cases addressed the precise issue before us — whether the property clause prohibits the transfer of United States property to foreign nations through self-executing treaties. While, therefore, neither the holdings nor the dicta of these previous cases are dispositive of the case before us, we believe that in the main they support the conclusions we have stated heretofore.
One line of cases, involving the property clause, has arisen in the context of the division of power between the federal government and the states. In discussing this question, the Supreme Court has stated that Article IV "implies an exclusion of all other authority over [United States] property which could interfere with this right or obstruct its exercise." We think that the most reasonable interpretation of such dicta, occurring in the context referred to, is that there is a lack of any constitutional basis for exercise of authority by individual states over United States property. But that a specific congressional power is exclusive against intrusion by the states does not necessarily remove it from the sphere of the federal treaty power.
Another line of cases, involving the treaty clause, has arisen in the context of conveyances by the federal government to Indian tribes. The leading case on the power to convey such land by self-executing treaty is Holden v. Joy, 84 U.S. 211, 21 L.Ed. 523 (1872). In quieting adverse claims to certain lands west of the Mississippi which had previously been conveyed to the Cherokee nation by treaty, the Court had to determine the validity of the original grant to the Indians. The Court noted that
still it is insisted that the President and Senate, in concluding [a treaty for the transfer of property], could not lawfully covenant that a patent should issue to convey lands which belonged to the United States without the consent of Congress. . On the contrary, there are many authorities where it is held that a treaty may convey to a grantee good title to such lands without an act of Congress conferring it. .
Id. at 247. Because later congressional enactments repeatedly recognized the validity of the transfer, the Court found it unnecessary to rest its decision on this constitutional basis. However, the principle espoused is repeated in subsequent Supreme Court decisions.
The treaty in Holden involved a cession of non-Indian lands in return for tribal property. More common, however, were treaties in which Indian tribes ceded to the United States portions of their lands in return for, generally, some money and the creation of reservations. Usually these reservations consisted of tracts of territory originally occupied by the tribes and excepted by the treaty provisions from cession to the federal government. In order to fully comprehend the nature of the property interest transferred by the United States in these reservations it is necessary to understand the extent of the Indians' legal title prior thereto. The law early recognized the limited possessory rights of Indians in their territory. Ultimate title, that necessary to dispose of the property, rested solely in the hands of the federal government. Johnson v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543, 5 L.Ed. 681 (1823). The purpose of the reservation treaties was to transfer the Indian tribes' possessory rights to most of their property to the United States in exchange for a fee simple title in excepted reservations. Such treaties, then, clearly disposed of United States property interests.
Supreme Court cases involving these cessions have provided dicta similar to that of Holden v. Joy. In Jones v. Meehan, 175 U.S. 1, 20 S.Ct. 1, 44 L.Ed. 49 (1899), the Court considered the nature of Indian property rights acquired by "reservation." There, Chief Moose Dung of the Chippewas had "reserved" a certain tract of land in a treaty ceding tribal territory to the United States. He subsequently leased some of that property to various individuals. A challenge was made questioning the Chief's authority to engage in that transaction. As framed by the Court, the issue for resolution was whether the treaty merely confirmed Chief Moose Dung's original right of occupancy in the reserved lands or whether the treaty granted a fee simple interest to the reservee. In holding that a fee simple passed under the treaty, the court noted that "[i]t is well settled that a good title to parts of the lands of an Indian tribe may be granted to individuals by a treaty between the United States and the tribe, without any act of Congress, or any patent from the Executive authority of the United States." 175 U.S. at 10, 20 S.Ct. at 5. Thus the Court concluded that the treaty power alone was sufficient to transfer the underlying United States title in the reserved lands. In a similar situation the Court in Francis v. Francis, 203 U.S. 233, 241-42, 27 S.Ct. 129, 51 L.Ed. 165 (1906), stated that "this court and the highest court of Michigan concur in holding that a title in fee may pass by treaty without the aid of an act of Congress."
As is true of most of the cases in which the Supreme Court has addressed the scope of the treaty power, Holden, Jones, and Francis involved the federal government's interaction with Indian tribes. Because of the sui generis nature of the relationship between the Indian tribes and the federal government, it might be argued that these decisions are not dispositive. We think, however, that they are persuasively supportive of the authority of the President and the Senate under the treaty clause.
V
While certain earlier judicial interpretations of the interplay between the property clause and the treaty clause may be somewhat confused and less than dispositive of the precise issue before us, past treaty practice is thoroughly consistent with the revealed intention of the Framers of these clauses. In addition to the treaties with Indian tribes upheld in the cases discussed above, there are many other instances of self-executing treaties with foreign nations, including Panama, which cede land or other property assertedly owned by the United States. That some transfers have been effected through a congressional enactment instead of, or in addition to, a treaty signed by the President and ratified by two-thirds of the Senate present lends no support to appellants' position in this case, because, as stated previously, self-executing treaties and congressional enactments are alternative, concurrent means provided in the Constitution for disposal of United States property.
For instance, the Treaty with Panama of 1955, 6 U.S.T. 2273, transferred certain property (a strip of water and other sites within the Canal Zone) to Panama without concurring legislation by the Congress, while transfer of other property (owned by the United States but within the jurisdiction of Panama) was, under the terms of the treaty itself, dependent upon concurring legislation by the Congress. The decision to cast some but not all of the articles of conveyance in non-self-executing form was a policy choice; it was not required by the Constitution.
The transfer of property contemplated in the current instance is part of a broader effort in the conduct of our foreign affairs to strengthen relations with another country, and indeed with the whole of Latin America. The Framers in their wisdom have made the treaty power available to the President, the chief executant of foreign relations under our constitutional scheme, by and with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the members of the Senate present, as a means of accomplishing these public purposes.
We do not think it is relevant that many previous treaties couched in self-executing terms have been different in scope, dealing with boundary issues or otherwise ceding land which was claimed both by the United States and by a foreign nation We note first that it is hardly surprising that land transfers often involve boundaries or other disputed territory; indeed, it is in these situations that the decision to dispose of land would most often be made. Second, the grant of power to Congress in the property clause is not predicated on the territory disposed of being on a boundary or being the subject of conflicting claims. Thus we do not understand the basis for appellants' argument that, even if that clause does not provide the exclusive means of disposing of disputed or boundary lands, it is the exclusive source of power for disposing of land concededly owned by the United States. If the status of the land has any bearing on whether it may be conveyed without congressional enactment under the property clause, it would seem to cut in a direction contrary to that urged by appellants, for the Western lands that were the focus of the property clause were the subject of conflicting claims by the states and the federal government.
It is important to the correct resolution of the legal issue now before us not to confuse what the Constitution permits with what it prohibits. In deciding that Article IV, § 3, cl. 2 is not the exclusive method contemplated by the Constitution for disposing of federal property, we hold that the United States is not prohibited from employing an alternative means constitutionally authorized. Our judicial function in deciding this lawsuit is confined to assessing the merits of the claim of appellants that in the conduct of foreign relations in this matter, involving, inter alia, the transfer of property of the United States, the treaty power as contained in Article II, § 2, cl. 2, was not legally available. We hold, contrarily, that this choice of procedure was clearly consonant with the Constitution.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the District Court dismissing the complaint is
Affirmed.
. Two treaties, signed by the chief executives of Panama and the United States, were presented to the Senate for ratification. The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal has now been ratified by the Senate, see note 2 infra. The Article conveying the Canal Zone properties to the Republic of Panama is contained in the Panama Canal Treaty:
PROPERTY TRANSFER AND ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION BY THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA
1. Upon termination of this Treaty, the Republic of Panama shall assume total responsibility for the management, operation, and maintenance of the Panama Canal, which shall be turned over in operating condition and free of liens and debts, except as the two Parties may otherwise agree.
2.The United States of America transfers, without charge, to the Republic of Panama all right, title and interest the United States of America may have with respect to all real property, including non-removable improvements thereon, as set forth below:
(a) Upon the entry into force of this Treaty, the Panama Railroad and such property that was located in the former Canal Zone but that is not within the land and water areas the use of which is made available to the United States of America pursuant to this Treaty. However, it is agreed that the transfer on such date shall not include buildings and other facilities, except housing, the use of which is retained by the United States of America pursuant to this Treaty and related agreements, outside such areas;
(b) Such property located in an area or a portion thereof at such time as the use by the United States of America of such area or portion thereof ceases pursuant to agreement between the two Parties.
(c) Housing units made available for occupancy by members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Panama in accordance with paragraph 5(b) of Annex B to the Agreement in Implementation of Article IV of this Treaty at such time as such units are made available to the Republic of Panama.
(d)Upon termination of this Treaty, all real property and non-removable improvements that were used by the United States of America for the purposes of this Treaty and related agreements and equipment related to the management, operation and maintenance of the Canal remaining in the Republic of Panama.
3. The Republic of Panama agrees to hold the United States of America harmless with respect to any claims which may be made by third parties relating to rights, title and interest in such property.
4. The Republic of Panama shall receive, in addition, from the Panama Canal Commission a just and equitable return on the national resources which it has dedicated to the efficient management, operation, maintenance, protection and defense of the Panama Canal .
. The Senate consented to The Neutrality Treaty on March 14, 1978. It is expected that the vote on the Panama Canal Treaty will occur in early April 1978.
. In addressing the merits, we assume without deciding that the Panama Canal Zone real property which would be conveyed by the Panama Canal Treaty is indeed property belonging to the United States. Appellee has not contended otherwise and neither party has briefed this issue.
. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has thoroughly considered and rejected appellants' argument. That Committee reported the treaties with Panama to the full Senate by a 14 to 1 vote, and the one dissenting Senator did not dispute the power of the President, by and with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate present, to transfer United States property. See Exec. Rept. No. 95-12 (95th Cong., 2d Sess., Feb. 3, 1978).
In addition to the American Law Institute's Restatement of Foreign Relations Law, see infra, other authorities in agreement with this conclusion include Professor Louis Henkin, see L. Henkin, Foreign Affairs and the Constitution 159-60 (1965); Dean Louis Poliak, see 124 Cong.Rec., No. 8, at 5729 (95th Cong., Jan. 30, 1978); Professor Covey Oliver, see Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, Part IV, at 95, 103, 112-13 (Jan. 19, 1978); and Professor John Norton Moore, see id. at 89, 93-94. The Attorney General and the State Department Legal Adviser have also issued opinions that the Panama Canal may be disposed of through self-executing treaty. See Opinion of the Attorney General to the Secretary of State, Aug. 11, 1977; Hearings Before the Subcommittee on the Separation of Powers of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Part I, at 3-25 (July 29, 1977). Raoul Berger, in testimony before the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the fall of 1977, expressed a contrary position. His thesis seems to be that the President and Senate cannot exercise under the treaty power any power granted to Congress, see Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, (95th Cong. 1st Sess., Nov. 3, 1977). We agree with Professor Henkin that such a narrow view of the treaty power would, by "outlaw[ing] treaties on matters as to which Congress could legislate domestically," "virtually wipe out the treaty power." L. Henkin, supra, at 149.
We note that Professor Henkin's treatise leaves no doubt but that he is in agreement with our position. The passage quoted by the dissent, as is realized upon a careful reading of the passage itself (with its references to "unilateral" Presidential action and "executive order[s]"), concerns the limitations upon the President's power to dispose of property through unilateral executive action. See note 24 infra.
. Similarly, § 118(1) of the Restatement lends no support to the dissent's position because it is not even relevant to the issue before us. That section, consistent with Missouri v. Holland, 252 U.S. 416, 40 S.Ct. 382, 64 L.Ed. 641 (1920), indicates that the treaty power is broader than the power of Congress to enact legislation. The issue before us, on the other hand, is whether the treaty power extends to an area in which Congress, by virtue of Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2, does have power to enact legislation.
. It is important to understand the limited scope of this inquiry. If Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2 does in fact provide the exclusive means of property disposition, /. e., by legislation, clearly a self-executing treaty would be a constitutionally impermissible alternative. As the dissent repeatedly indicates, the treaty power may not encroach on delegation made exclusively to Congress.
.The dissent argues that because the power to declare war is exclusively reserved to Congress by Art. 1, § 8, so also must be the power to dispose of United States property, which power is granted to Congress in the same language as the war-making power. Cf. L. Henkin, supra, at 160 n.**. The sui generis nature of a declaration of war and the unique history indicating the Framers' desire to have both Houses of Congress concur in such a declaration, may place it apart from the other congressional powers enumerated in Art. 1, § 8 and in Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2. The history, discussed infra, of the constitutional convention and ratifying conventions with respect to the property clause and the treaty clause, on the other hand, clearly demonstrates the Framers' intention to allow disposition of the United States property through self-executing treaty. Moreover, while there are numerous instances in past treaty practice of the latter, we know of no instance in which the United States has been in a state of formally declared war without a congressional declaration thereof.
. The states' claims to unsettled Western (trans-Allegheny) regions were based on charters granted to them from Great Britain. Landless states argued that all Western lands should inure to the benefit of all states, i. e., should be federal properties. See H. Hockett, The Constitutional History of the United States 1776-1826, 143-46 (1939); 2 M. Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 461-66 (1937); 3 id. at 226-27.
. This issue arose in a debate over the treaty clause that was not unlike the controversy before this court. Governor Randolph of Virginia stated that he could "conceive that neither the life nor property of any citizen, nor the particular right of any state, can be affected by a treaty." He then argued that Art. IV, § 3 must be intended to protect against the dismemberment of the Union. Mr. Grayson replied that
[tjhis clause was inserted for the purpose of enabling Congress to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting, the territory, or other property, belonging to the United States, and to ascertain clearly that the claims of particular states, respecting territory should not be prejudiced by the alteration of the government, but be on the same footing as before; that it could not be construed to be a limitation on the power of making treaties.
3 Elliot's Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Convention 504-05 (1907).
. The account in the text is from 2 Farrand, supra, at 540-49.
. Mat 541.
. Id. at 543.
. 3 Elliot's Debates, supra, at 500.
. Id. at 660.
. See S. Crandall, Treaties, Their Making and Enforcement 63 (2d Ed. 1916); 4 Elliot's Debates, supra, at 115.
.James Madison stated that "I do not conceive that power is given to the President and Senate to dismember the empire, or to alienate any great, essential right." But he continued by noting "I do not think the whole legislative authority have this power. The exercise of the power must be consistent with the object of the delegation." 3 Elliot's Debates, supra, at 514. It appears, thus, that Madison was only formulating a well-recognized limitation on all of the constitutional powers, namely, that the exercise of constitutional delegations is restrained by the basic premises upon which the Union and the Constitution were created.
. Wisconsin Cent. R.R. Co. v. Price County, 133 U.S. 496, 504, 10 S.Ct. 341, 344, 33 L.Ed. 687 (1890).
. The dissent also relies upon Alabama v. Texas, 347 U.S. 272, 74 S.Ct. 481, 98 L.Ed. 689 (1954), which upheld the Submerged Lands Act of 1953, 67 Stat. 29. The reference in that case to Congress' power to dispose of property "without limitation" had no application to whatever limitation on Congress' power may be thought to result from use of the treaty power to accomplish disposal of property. Rather, the salient question in the case was whether Congress could grant to individual states indefeasible title to and ownership of certain resources under submerged marginal ocean lands. Thus, it appears that in referring to Congress' power "without limitation", the Court was holding that Congress' authority under Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2 embraces any disposition of property of the United States chosen by Congress. See also Inter-Island Co. v. Hawaii, 305 U.S. 306, 59 S.Ct. 202, 83 L.Ed. 189 (1938) (Under the Art. IV, § 3 powers to regulate, Congress has the authority to permit the Territory of Hawaii to impose taxes on petitioner's interstate business operations); United States v. Celestine, 215 U.S. 278, 30 S.Ct. 93, 54 L.Ed. 195 (1909) (Congress has power to retain federal jurisdiction over crimes committed by an Indian allottee on allotted land of an Indian reservation within the confines of a state); Wisconsin Cent. R.R. Co. v. Price County, 133 U.S. 496, 10 S.Ct. 341, 33 L.Ed. 687 (1890) (United States property is not subject to state taxation since enforcement of such a tax might result in states, instead of Congress, controlling the disposition of federal property contrary to Art. IV, § 3, cl. 2); Griffin v. United States, 168 F.2d 457 (8th Cir. 1948) (county resolution declaring federally owned property open for grazing is invalid encroachment upon power delegated to Congress to regulate United States property).
Appellants also cite several cases that, while not dealing with federal-state relations, are nonetheless inapplicable here. See United States v. Fitzgerald, 40 U.S. (15 Pet.) 407, 10 L.Ed. 785 (1841) (an individual employee of the federal government is not empowered by his position to dispose of federal property without further congressional authorization); United States v. Gratiot, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 526, 10 L.Ed. 573 (1840) (congressional authorization to lease publicly owned lead mines to individuals is within constitutional delegation permitting "disposal" of United States property); Sierra Club v. Hickel, 433 F.2d 24 (9th Cir. 1970), aff'd sub nom., Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972) (Congress had the power to delegate regulation of the public lands to Executive officers).
In Sioux Tribe v. United States, 316 U.S. 317, 62 S.Ct. 1095, 86 L.Ed. 1501 (1942), cited by appellants, the Court held that the President could not by Executive Order dispose of public lands without congressional authorization. However, the unilateral nature of Presidential action by Executive Order renders that case inapposite here. Treaties involve not only Presidential action but senatorial participation as well.
. Jones v. Meehan discussed and rejected as irreconcilable with later Supreme Court opinions the contrary views expressed by Attorney General Taney and Justice Nelson, which are also relied on by the dissent in the case before us. 175 U.S. at 12-14, 20 S.Ct. 1.
. Although this unique relationship has often been cited as a basis for distinguishing "Indian cases," we question the applicability of the distinction to this case. This sui generis relationship is traditionally found in the context of individual rights, and it does not seem directly relevant to the scope of the treaty power vis-avis other sources of federal power. The Supreme Court long ago noted that "the power to make treaties with the Indian tribes is as we have seen, coextensive with that to make treaties with foreign nations." United States v. 43 Gallons of Whiskey, 93 U.S. 188, 197, 23 L.Ed. 846 (1876).
. See, e. g., Florida Treaty with Spain of 1819, 8 Stat. 252 (256); Treaty Between the United States and Great Britain (Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842), 12 Bevans 82; Treaty between the United States and Japan (June 17, 1971), 23 U.S.T. 447, citations in note 22 infra.
.See, e. g., The Treaty with Mexico of 1933 (Rectification of the Rio Grande), 9 Bevans 976; The Treaty with Mexico of 1963 (Solution of the Chamizal Problem), 15 U.S.T. 21; The Treaty with Mexico of 1970 (changing position of Rio Grande to maintain boundary), 23 U.S.T. 371; Florida Treaty with Spain, supra note 21.
The dissent asserts that the treaties with Mexico cited herein were not self-executing. However, the only portions of these treaties dependent upon legislation were provisions in the latter two treaties requiring the United States to acquire certain property from private individuals prior to ceding it to Mexico. Because such acquisition necessitated appropriation of funds, implementing legislation was re quired, see pp. 4-5 of 189 U.S.App.D.C., pp. 1058-1059 of 580 F.2d, supra. Similarly, the treaties with Panama also will require implementing legislation for the payment of annuities to Panama and certain other provisions in the treaties. See Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, supra, at 20 (Department of State Statement of Legislation Required to Implement Proposed New Agreement with Panama).
. It is exceedingly difficult to understand why the constitutionality of utilization of the treaty process should depend on whether the nation to which the land is conveyed has previously "claimed" such land.
. The dissent tends to obscure the distinction between the treaty power and presidential power asserted to be inherent in his authority to conduct our foreign relations. There is no doubt that the latter is more restricted than the former. As Professor Henkin notes:
Whatever, then, [the President] might do by treaty or other international agreement . . he cannot unilaterally regulate commerce with foreign nations, or make domestic laws punishing piracy or defining offenses against the nations or declare war. Equally, he cannot exercise, even for foreign affairs purposes, the general powers allocated to Congress: he cannot regulate patents or copyrights or the value of money, or establish post offices, or dispose of American territory or property. .
L. Henkin, supra at 94-96 (1972) (emphasis added). A similar view is expressed in the 1940 Opinion of the Attorney General indicating that the President could not, by executive agreement, transfer "mosquito" boats to Great Britain. 39 Op.Atty.Gen. 484 (1940). Additionally, the State Department Guidelines, upon which the dissent draws, states that:
The President may conclude an international agreement on the basis of existing legislation or subject to legislation to be enacted by the Congress. . . .
Department of State, 11 Foreign Affairs Manual § 721.2(a)2. Thus these too recognize that the President, when acting alone, has only limited power. However, we are not now faced with determining the permissibility of territorial cession by executive agreement. Before us is the much broader power established by the treaty clause of Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. Accordingly, these authorities are not applicable here.