Supreme Court grants certiorari in case implicating Missouri v. Holland.

• Jurisdiction: Derecho Internacional
• Date: 01 April 2013
• Author: Crook, John R.

In January 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Bond v. United States, (1) a case implicating the extent of congressional power to enact legislation to implement a treaty of the United States. (2) The Court relisted the case for consideration in conference seven times before deciding to grant certiorari. The questions presented (taken from Bond's petition for certiorari) may suggest some justices' readiness to reexamine the Court's landmark 1920 decision in Missouri v. Holland. (3)

Do the Constitution's structural limits on federal authority impose any constraints on the scope of Congress' authority to enact legislation to implement a valid treaty, at least in circumstances where the federal statute, as applied, goes far beyond the scope of the treaty, intrudes on traditional state prerogatives, and is concededly unnecessary to satisfy the government's treaty obligations? Can the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. [section] 229, be interpreted not to reach ordinary poisoning cases, which have been adequately handled by state and local authorities since the Framing, in order to avoid the difficult constitutional questions involving the scope of and continuing vitality of this Court's decision in Missouri v. Holland? (4) Carol Anne Bond, a microbiologist, placed toxic chemicals--stolen from her employer as well as others purchased over the Internet--on surfaces that her husband's pregnant lover was expected to touch. The victim suffered a minor burn. Bond entered a conditional guilty plea to federal charges and was sentenced to six years under the penal provision of the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998, (5) which implements the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. (6) Both in district...