Friday, March 26, 2010

Harvard profs trash ACTA, demand oversight, threaten lawsuit

"Harvard Law School professors Lawrence Lessig and Jack Goldsmith took to the op-ed page of the Washington Post today to slam the Obama administration's approach to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)—and to threaten a lawsuit if ACTA is signed without Congressional oversight.

The US has positioned ACTA as an executive agreement rather than a treaty. Such a move means that ACTA doesn't need Senate approval, but it also means that the agreement should not alter US law, either. If you want to change the law, you go to Congress."

in reference to:

""The administration has suggested that a sole executive agreement in this instance would not trample Congress's prerogatives because the pact would not affect US domestic law," write the professors. "Binding the United States to international obligations of this sort without congressional approval would raise serious constitutional questions even if domestic law were not affected.""
- Harvard profs trash ACTA, demand oversight, threaten lawsuit (view on Google Sidewiki)

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