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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract =1346790 Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract =1346790 DRAFT ARTICLE 5-15-2009 5/14/2009 2:23 PM 1 The International Boundary Commission, Treaty Interpretation, and the President’s Removal Power  David C. Weiss *  The International Boundary Commission is a body originally chartered by treaty between the United States and Canada in 1908. Although the treaties establishing the Commission require that the commissioners be  segregated from politics and insulated from political removals, in 2007  President George W. Bush asserted his power to fire the U.S. represen- tative to the Commission following a controversy over a private retaining wall that entered the swath of border-land that the Commission is required to keep clear. No President had ever claimed such a right. This controversy provides the best occasion for discussing important questions regardi ng the removal power and related separation of powers concerns since the landmark case of Morrison v. Olson. The unique facts of the case and the obscurity of the Boundary Commission also provide leverage on questions regarding the treaty power and self-execution in the wake of Medellín v. Texas. This Article recovers the obscure history of the Boundary Commission and uses the removal, treaty-making, self- execution, non-delegation, and Appointments Clause doctrines to argue that self-executing treaties should be able to limit the removal of inferior officer s within constitutionally-di ctated parameters. Concluding that the treaties establishing the Boundary Commission were such limitations, the Article claims that the President’s removal of the U.S. Commissioner violated U.S. law and in doing so harms U.S. reputation in international law, contributes to a perception that the United States, at times, can be an uncooperative international actor, and undesirably politicizes an of-  fice created to promote technocratic expertise. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. I  NTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 2 II. THE I  NTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION AND ITS PLACE IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ................................................................. 6 A. The International Boundary Commission ............ ........... ......... 7 1. The Role of the International Boundary Commission Today ............ ............ ......... ............................................. .... 8 * Clara Belfield & Henry Bates Overseas Fellow, South African Human Rights Commis- sion; A.B., Dartmouth College; J.D., The University of Michigan Law School. I am grateful to Colin Reingold for suggesting this area of research and Monica Hakimi for her assistance through- out the writing process. Steven Croley provided extremely thoughtf ul and useful comments on an earlier draft. Thanks also to Kate Wagner for helpful notes as well as David Langbart and the rest of the staff of the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Chris Abbott provided invaluable research assist ance. Most important, I would like to offer overdue thanks to Tiffany Wang for her encourageme nt and support.

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