Good News: Georgia Senators Voted NO on UN Treaty

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, December 7, 2012 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim.  There’s good news today!  Last Tuesday at, precisely, 30
minutes after noon the U.S. Senate counted 61 YES votes and 38 NO votes on the
U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  If it had been a
normal bill, it would have passed.  But, thanks to the Constitution of the
United States, ratification of treaties requires a two-thirds majority vote by
the senators present.  Of 100 U.S. Senators, 99 voted on roll-call December
4th.  So, the 38 votes were four more than were needed to defeat the treaty.
 
This is serious business, since a treaty ratified by the Senate supersedes all
other authority and becomes the law of the land.  It’s more powerful than
federal and state constitutions and federal and state laws.  It’s more powerful
than federal, state and local rules, regulations, policies and ordnances enacted
anywhere in the United States.  And, that’s not all.  Trying to overturn a
treaty in court is a waste of time, because treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate
must be followed by every judge on every level.
 
Had it passed the Senate, that U.N. treaty would have allowed foreign agents to
intrude in the lives of any disabled child or adult that complained on a U.N.
hot-line set up for their use.  If that hot-line were used by a disabled
complainant or anyone acting on his behalf, a U.N. committee could by-pass the
family, the doctor, state and federal governments and the courts to require
changes based on international standards, with mandatory progress reports to the
U.N. within six months.Although the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, seemingly,
applies only to individuals, the family of the disabled, their doctor and others
involved would be drastically affected, because U.S. laws concerning treatment
and care of the disabled would be superseded.   
 
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid disregarded a letter from 36 senators asking
him NOT to consider a treaty during the lame-duck session and brought it up,
anyway.  Those 36 senators who signed the letter, actually, gained two more NO
votes last Tuesday and stopped the treaty.  So, 38 out of 99 senators were able
to stop the other 61 senators from giving the U.N. authority to intervene in the
treatment and care of disabled children and adults in the United States. 
 
Again, I thank God for the Constitution of the United States and for all of you
who asked Senator Chambliss and Senator Isakson to vote NO … which they did. 
For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.