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Show 56 Treaty-Making Power Under the Constitution, the President has power:24S by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur * * *. The Constitution also provides that treaties made under the authority of the United States:2U shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the Contrary not- withstanding. The foregoing provisions have existing and potential impor- tance, particularly as to international streams such as the Rio Grande, the Colorado River, the Columbia River, and the St. Lawrence River.245 As we shall later see, important functions respecting certain international streams have been vested in international agencies created pursuant to the provisions of treaties.246 Likewise, reference will later be made to the his- toric utility of treaties in preservation of waterways as common highways.247 248 U. S. Const., Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. 244 U. S. Const., Art. VI, cl. 2. From Mr. Justice Story comes this statement of the reason why treaties should be held the supreme law of the land: "It is to be considered that treaties constitute solemn compacts of binding obli- gation among nations; and unless they are scrupulously obeyed and enforced, no foreign nations would consent to negotiate with us * * *. It is, there- fore, indispensable that they should have the obligation and force of a law, that they may be executed by the judicial power, and be obeyed like other laws. * * * The peace of the nation, and its good faith, and moral dignity indispensably require that all State laws should be subjected to their supremacy." 2 Story, Constitution of the United States, Bk. Ill, ch. XLII, § 1838, pp. 604-605 (5th ed. 1891). See also Missouri v. Holland, 252 U. S. 416, 433-435 (1920). 248 For example, by treaty respecting the Colorado River and subject to certain conditions, a right was recently guaranteed to Mexico to receive annually 1,500,000 acre-feet of water. Treaty between the United States of America and Mexico, Utilization of the Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers, and of the Rio Grande, February 3,1944, Treaty Series 994, Art. 10, 59 Stat. 1219,1237. 244 See infra, pp. 121-123,147-148, 309-311, 480-481. 247 See infra, pp. 74-75. |