United States v. Belmont case brief

United States v. Belmont (S Ct 1937, p. 189)

• A Russian corp deposited money w/ Belmont, a private banker in NY. Belmont died. USSR dissolved the corp and nationalized the assets, including the money w/ Belmont. Then USSR gave the money to the US, but the respondents refused to give the Belmont money over to the US.
• Diplomatic agreement btwn USSR and US that USSR wld not take steps to enforce claims against Americans and that all claims were released to the US.
• This assignment of the USSR assets included this claim.
• Ct: No state policy (NY) cld prevail against an intl compact b/c govt power gover external affairs rests solely with the national govt.
• Ct: This is a foreign policy agreement not requiring ratification by the states.
• Ct: But it was a “treaty” for purposes of treaties superceding state laws.
• The president can, by using art. 6 treaty pwr, make viable municipal law which trumps state law. The presidtherefore has some sort of legislative pwr.