Court Opinion

ID: 9498210
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:11:13.073009+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:41.392752
License: Public Domain

FERGUSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Not every constitutional question requires judicial scrutiny or resolution. While the judiciary has the power to ad*1001dress questions concerning the content of treaties, see Eastern Airlines, Inc. v. Floyd, 499 U.S. 530, 534-35, 111 S.Ct. 1489, 113 L.Ed.2d 569 (1991), the question of whether the President may enter into treaties with non-sovereigns is left to the politically accountable branches of government. The majority announces a flawed and unnecessary constitutional ruling on this issue. Because we should dismiss Wang’s appeal for lack of justiciability, I must dissent.
I.
The majority rules that whether the President has the constitutional authority to enter into treaties with non-sovereigns, like Hong Kong, is a clear justiciable question under Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 217, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962). Instead of “discerning a nation’s sovereignty (a political question),” the majority states that we are only “examin[ing] the resulting status of Hong Kong” and “deciding] whether the Treaty Clause applies to Hong Kong as a constitutionally cognizable treaty party.” Maj. op. at 995. What constitutes a “constitutionally cognizable treaty party,” however, is a question of foreign policy that the judiciary cannot address. In fact, all of the Baker factors support dismissing Wang’s appeal and leaving resolution of this question to the political process.
A.
First, mindful of the fact that not “every case or controversy which touches foreign relations lies beyond judicial cognizance,” Baker, 369 U.S. at 211, 82 S.Ct. 691, the question of whether Hong Kong is a constitutionally cognizable treaty partner is committed to the political branches because it is inextricably linked to the President’s broad authority in the field of foreign relations.
The majority narrowly reframes the issue for purposes of the first Baker test, as whether the term “treaty” in the Treaty Clause encompasses agreements with non-sovereigns. Maj. op. at 997. But the real issue here is not as simple as the majority would have us view it. While it is undisputed that the judiciary has the power to interpret the language of the Constitution, including the Treaty Clause, see Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 18, 78 S.Ct. 1401, 3 L.Ed.2d 5 (1958) (per curiam) (“the federal judiciary is supreme in the exposition of the law of the Constitution, and that principle has ever since [Marbury v. Madison ] been respected by this Court and the Country as a permanent and indispensable feature of our constitutional system[]”), not every constitutional question requires judicial interpretation. See Spector Motor Serv. v. McLaughlin, 323 U.S. 101, 105, 65 S.Ct. 152, 89 L.Ed. 101 (1944) (“If there is one doctrine more deeply rooted than any other in the process of constitutional adjudication, it is that we ought not to pass on questions of constitutionality ... unless such adjudication is unavoidable.”). In its most basic form, the real question before us is whether it is the role of the judiciary or the political branches to decide what constitutes a treaty partner. The Constitution commits the latter to answer this question.
As Chief Executive, U.S. Const, art. II, § 1, cl. 1, and Commander in Chief, U.S. Const, art. II, § 2, cl. 1, the President is “the guiding organ in the conduct of our [nation’s] foreign affairs.” Ludecke v. Watkins, 335 U.S. 160, 173, 68 S.Ct. 1429, 92 L.Ed. 1881 (1948); see United States v. Pink, 315 U.S. 203, 229, 62 S.Ct. 552, 86 L.Ed. 796 (1942) (“[T]he President ... is the ‘sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations.’ ”) (citation omitted). In addition to granting the President the power to make treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate, U.S. Const, art. II, § 2, cl. 2, the same clause of the Constitution confers upon *1002the President the sole power to “appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers, and Consuls,” while a subsequent section vests the President with the authority “to receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers.” U.S. Const, art. II, § 3. The President’s further authority to recognize foreign powers logically derives from his ample constitutional authority in the realm of foreign affairs. See Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398, 410, 84 S.Ct. 923, 11 L.Ed.2d 804 (1964) (“Political recognition is exclusively a function of the Executive.”); Pink, 315 U.S. at 229, 62 S.Ct. 552 (“Objections to the underlying policy as well as objections to recognition are to be addressed to the political department and not to the courts.”); United States v. Sandoval, 231 U.S. 28, 45-46, 34 S.Ct. 1, 58 L.Ed. 107 (1913) (recognition of Indian tribes is also left to the political branches).
Here, the President, acting within his grant of constitutional authority, engaged in diplomatic relations with Hong Kong while under British and now Chinese rule. On the basis of this preexisting relationship, the President considered Hong Kong a foreign power — sovereign or non-sovereign — with which the United States could cooperate and reach various agreements, including an extradition agreement. To effectuate his interest in establishing an extradition policy with Hong Kong, the President entered into the Hong Kong Extradition Agreement (HKEA) with the Senate’s approval pursuant to the President’s constitutionally committed power to “make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” U.S. Const, art. II, § 2, cl. 2. The HKEA is, therefore, a Senate-approved treaty that represents the President’s ongoing interest in maintaining foreign relations with Hong Kong.
It is not the role of the courts to question whether the President properly exercised his political power by entering into a treaty with Hong Kong in the process of conducting foreign affairs. See Harisiades v. Shaughnessy, 342 U.S. 580, 589, 72 S.Ct. 512, 96 L.Ed. 586 (1952) (explaining that “the conduct of foreign relations ... [is] so exclusively entrusted to the political branches of government as to be largely immune from judicial inquiry or interference”) (footnote omitted); United States v. Belmont, 301 U.S. 324, 328, 57 S.Ct. 758, 81 L.Ed. 1134 (1937) (stating that “the conduct of foreign relations was committed by the Constitution to the political departments of the government, and the propriety of what may be done in the exercise of this political power[is] not subject to judicial inquiry or decision”) (referring to Oetjen v. Central Leather Co., 246 U.S. 297, 38 S.Ct. 309, 62 L.Ed. 726 (1918)). By virtue of wielding the power to make treaties, appoint ambassadors, and recognize foreign governments, all part of the President’s extensive power to conduct foreign relations, the President is necessarily entrusted by the structure of the Constitution with the power to determine who makes a proper treaty partner. See Alperin v. Vatican Bank, 410 F.3d 532 (9th Cir. June 9, 2005) (citing Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224, 240-41, 113 S.Ct. 732, 122 L.Ed.2d 1 (1993) (White, J., concurring)) (“ ‘The courts ... are usually left to infer the presence of a political question from the text and structure of the Constitution.’ ”); Ramirez de Arellano v. Weinberger, 745 F.2d 1500, 1511 (D.C.Cir.1984) (en banc) (“The first [Baker test] requires the court to determine whether the text of the Constitution implicitly or explicitly commits the stated claim to the political branches.”).
Moreover, given the President’s broad textual grants of authority in conducting the nation’s foreign affairs, the Supreme Court has reasonably invoked the political question doctrine distinctly in the area of foreign affairs. See Oetjen, 246 U.S. at *1003302, 38 S.Ct. 309. In particular, with regard to treaties, the Supreme Court has held that it is a political question whether a treaty survives when one country becomes part of another. Terlinden v. Ames, 184 U.S. 270, 22 S.Ct. 484, 46 L.Ed. 534 (1902). A plurality of the Supreme Court has also stated that whether the President may unilaterally terminate a treaty is by its nature a political question. Goldwater v. Carter, 444 U.S. 996, 100 S.Ct. 533, 62 L.Ed.2d 428 (1979). Most applicable here, one of our sister circuits has held specifically that the question of what constitutes a treaty requiring Senate ratification is a political question, Made in the USA Found. v. United States, 242 F.3d 1300, 1302 (11th Cir.2001), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1039, 122 S.Ct. 613, 151 L.Ed.2d 536 (2001), while another has persuasively explained that the making of international agreements is textually committed to the political branches:
While the treaty power of the Executive expressly involves the participation of the Legislature, nowhere does the Constitution contemplate the participation by the third, non-political branch, that is the Judiciary, in any fashion in the making of international agreements or the recognition of foreign governments .... [T]his is one of those areas of foreign relations textually committed to the political branches to the exclusion of the Judiciary.
Antolok v. United States, 873 F.2d 369, 381 (D.C.Cir.1989) (emphasis added).
Although the Constitution does not spell out a pronounced textual limit on the authority granted to the President to make treaties under Article II, it is clear, from both its text and structure, that the Constitution grants the President expansive power in the area of foreign affairs. The power to make treaties, with the advice and consent of the Senate, necessarily implies in the President the power to choose the nation’s treaty partners-sovereign or non-sovereign. By intervening in this case, the majority forgets that we must defer to the political branches in political questions even where we think, as the majority does here, that we can provide a basis for sanctioning the President’s contested action. See id. at 383 (explaining that “it is against that very invasion that the political question doctrine protects the political realm from judicial invasion”).
B.
Second, the courts lack judicially manageable standards to determine what constitutes a constitutionally cognizable treaty partner under the Treaty Clause. As in Goldivater and Made in the USA Found., the crux of the challenge in the present case is not centered on 'the treaty’s substantive provisions, but rather on what it means to adopt a treaty. In Goldwater, for example, the Supreme Court addressed the abrogation of a treaty, a plurality of the Court holding that the question of whether the President could unilaterally terminate a treaty is governed by political standards. 444 U.S. 996, 100 S.Ct. 533. In Made in the USA Found., the Eleventh Circuit addressed the proper procedures for enacting a treaty, concluding that whether the Senate needs to ratify the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a political question. 242 F.3d 1300. Here, we are being asked to address with which foreign governments the President may enter into a treaty. The Constitution is silent with regard to how we address any of these questions.
Such decisions require that we consider areas beyond our judicial expertise. Indeed, in Made in the USA Found., the Eleventh Circuit held that it lacked the legal tools to decide what constitutes a treaty requiring Senate ratification in part because “the Treaty Clause [ ] fails to outline the circumstances, if any, under which *1004its procedures must be adhered to when approving international agreements.” 242 F.3d at 1315. Ninth Circuit Judge Betty B. Fletcher, sitting by designation, cited Goldwater distinctly as supporting authority: there, “the Supreme Court declined to act because the ... Treaty Clause fails to outline the Senate’s role in the abrogation of treaties.” Made in the USA Found., 242 F.3d at 1315. Here, too, the Treaty Clause fails to outline the foreign governments with which the President may properly enter into a treaty. See Holmes v. Jennison, 39 U.S. 540, 569, 14 Pet. 540, 10 L.Ed. 579 (1840) (explaining that “[t]he power to make treaties is given by the Constitution in general terms, without any description of the objects intended to be embraced by it”). In other words, there exists no “identifiable textual limit” in the Constitution on the President’s authority to make treaties with sovereigns or non-sovereigns. Made in the USA Found., 242 F.3d at 1315.
Not surprisingly, because the Constitution does not speak to this issue, the majority relies upon a “neutral analysis of the Indian treaty line of cases,” Maj. op. at 996, to infer that the President may enter into treaties with non-sovereigns. The majority’s position, like the Second Circuit’s position in Cheung v. United States, 213 F.3d 82 (2d Cir.2000), presupposes that Indian tribes were considered non-sovereign at the time the President entered into treaties with them. Id. at 90 (finding that “it is clear that the term ‘treaty’ had a meaning broader than an agreement between fully sovereign or independent entities”). The Indian treaty line of cases, however, is not conclusive; in fact, those cases cast serious doubt on whether the President in the past recognized Indian tribes as sovereign or non-sovereign.
The majority explains that in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, for example, the Supreme Court described Indian nations as “domestic dependent nations,” suggesting their non-sovereign status. 30 U.S. 1, 17, 5 Pet. 1, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831). In the same case, however, the Court underscored the unique relationship between Indian nations and the United States:
The condition of the Indians in relation to the United States is perhaps unlike that of any other two people in existence. In general, nations not owing a common allegiance are foreign to each other. The term foreign nation is, with strict propriety, applicable by either to the other. But the relation of the Indians to the United States is marked by peculiar and cardinal distinctions which exist no where else.... [Tjhey are considered as within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, subject to many of those restraints which are imposed upon our own citizens.
Id. at 16-17, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831). In Worcester v. Georgia, the Supreme Court elaborated on the issue, describing Indian nations as “distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights, as the undisputed possessors of the soil,” to which the United States has applied “[t]he words ‘treaty’ and ‘nation’ ” as it has to “other nations of the earth.” 31 U.S. 515, 559-60, 6 Pet. 515, 8 L.Ed. 483 (1832) (stating that “[t]he constitution ... adopted and sanctioned the previous treaties with the Indian nations, and consequently admitted] their rank among those powers who are capable of making treaties”). Thus, Indian nations may well have been considered sovereign, instead of non-sovereign, when the President entered into treaties with them.
The fact that Congress passed 25 U.S.C. § 71, which prohibited treaties with Indian tribes after 1871, furthers this argument. There, the statute reads, in relevant part:
No Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be *1005acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty; but no obligation of any treaty lawfully made and ratified with any such Indian nation or tribe prior to March 3, 1871, shall be hereby invalidated or impaired.
25 U.S.C. § 71 (emphases added). Wang contends that this language suggests congressional intent to strip Indian tribes of their sovereign status and affirm the inter-sovereign nature of treaties. Yet the statute could also be read as proof that Indian tribes were never recognized as sovereign nations, but rather as dependent nations.
While it is unclear whether Indian tribes were sovereign or non-sovereign at the time the President entered into treaties with them, what is clear .is that Indian nations are historically distinct. To compare United States-Indian treaties to the HKEA, therefore, is neither reasonable nor rational and fails to “fill[] in the silence of the Treaty Clause and the extradition statute with respect to the term ‘treaty.’ ” Maj. op. at 999; see Alperin, 410 F.3d 532 (explaining that courts must be able “to reach a ruling that is ‘principled, rational, and based upon reasoned distinctions’ ”) (citation omitted). Accordingly, the question of whether the President may enter into treaties with non-sovereigns is not amenable to judicial scrutiny and better left to the political branches to resolve.
C.
Last, prudential considerations militate against reaching the merits of Wang’s appeal. The Supreme Court clearly stated in Baker that it is crucial that the nation speaks with one voice in the field of foreign affairs. 369 U.S. at 211, 82 S.Ct. 691 (“[M]any such questions [touching on foreign relations] uniquely demand single-voiced statement [sic] of the Government’s views.”) (footnote omitted); see Alperin, 410 F.3d 532 (explaining that it is not the court’s place to “make pronouncements on foreign policy”).. Here, the majority, while upholding the President’s decision to enter into a treaty with a non-sovereign, expresses a lack of respect for the President’s handling of foreign relations by questioning the propriety of the President’s action. In fact, it provides unwarranted legitimacy to the President’s action when such intervention is reasonably avoidable. See Spector Motor Serv., 323 U.S. at 105, 65 S.Ct. 152 (1944) (explaining that “we ought not to pass on questions of constitutionality ... unless such adjudication is unavoidable”).
The majority contends that this one-voice concern is “overstated” because, even if the court had reached the opposite result, the President would still have the power to enter into an executive agreement or pass legislation with both houses of Congress. Maj. op. at 996. While I accept that the President may use alternative measures to reach an extradition agreement with Hong Kong, I submit that there is no reason to question the President’s decision when both the State Department and the Senate have sanctioned the present action. Cf Alperin, 410 F.3d 532 (explaining that the court’s involvement in a case in which the State Department has articulated a view on the matter would inevitably show a lack of respect for how the Executive Branch deals with foreign relations); Made in the USA Found., 242 F.3d at 1319 (finding that the Senate’s acquiescence in the procedures used to approve NAFTA counseled against judicial intervention in the case); Goldwater; 444 U.S. at 996, 100 S.Ct. 533 (Powell, J., concurring) (stating that “[t]he Judicial Branch should not decide issues affecting the allocation of power between the President and Congress until the political branches reach a constitutional impasse”). Thus, the issue presented is not justiciable.
*1006II.
The question of whether the President has the constitutional authority to enter into treaties with non-sovereigns, like Hong Kong, is by its nature political and, thereby, non-justiciable. The Baker tests inform us, in fact, that the resolution of the issue is inextricably linked to the President’s broad authority in the field of foreign relations; that the judiciary lacks the legal tools to resolve the issue in a principled manner; and that prudential considerations weigh against our involvement in the case. The majority today, as a result, announces an unnecessary constitutional ruling that has the effect of seriously threatening the strength of the political question doctrine. For these reasons, I must dissent.