| Zusammenfassung: | The dispute in Public Citizen v. Department of Transportation lies at the intersection between the United States’s international obligations and domestic environmental law. As the forces of globalization render the interdependence among nations more complex, the number of disputes at this intersection will increase. In Public Citizen, the Ninth Circuit chose to restrict its review to the domestic environmental requirements at issue. This chapter argues that the Ninth Circuit’s failure to put those requirements in the context of the international implications of the case, though permissible under the law, was short sighted. The disagreement in Public Citizen concerns whether or not a federal agency’s environmental assessment must include the environmental consequences of action taken by the President to comply with international law. Without analyzing the international law involved, the Ninth Circuit ruled that it must. Analysis of the international law involved in this case indicates that the environmental impact statement required by the Ninth Circuit is in complete compliance with U.S. international obligations. Furthermore, separation-of-powers analysis indicates that the President’s foreign relations powers cannot be used to counter the express wishes of Congress in relation to the environmental assessment at issue in this case. This chapter argues that, had the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Public Citizen included an analysis of international law, that opinion would have robbed DOT of its argument to the Supreme Court that the Ninth Circuit’s decision impinges on the President's foreign relations powers. Finally, this Chapter concludes that Congress should use its foreign commerce power to expressly address the domestic environmental consequences of international obligations taken on by the United States.
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