Comments. Is the Iran Deal a Post-Westphalian Act?

Abstract

The agreement was not a treaty requiring, under the U.S. Constitution, a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate for ratification, but President Obama found it prudent to invite Senate debate on so “historic” a step in diplomacy. The Republicans might have passed a resolution to reject it by simple majority, but the president promised a veto, which meant, to override, a two-thirds majority would be needed. In the end he found 42 Democrats to support the agreement, so that, under evolving Senate rules, the Republicans did not have the 60 votes necessary to break a Democratic filibuster to stop any resolution.