United States Senate and Treaty Ratification

The United States Senate’s advice-and-consent power gives it a constitutional role in deciding whether the President may conclude a treaty. Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the US Constitution, the President makes treaties with the Senate’s advice and consent, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur. Senate consent authorises presidential ratification; it is not itself ratification.

Constitutional division of responsibility

Treaty-making is a shared power of the executive and the Senate, rather than an exclusively presidential function.

• The President directs negotiations and ordinarily signs a treaty before submitting it to the Senate for consideration.
• The Senate may advise during negotiations, but its decisive constitutional role is to grant or withhold consent to ratification.
• The requirement is two-thirds of senators present, not two-thirds of the Senate’s total membership; therefore, the necessary number depends on attendance.
• The House of Representatives has no role in granting treaty consent, although legislation needed to implement a treaty generally requires both chambers.

How Senate consent operates

A submitted treaty is normally referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which examines it and may recommend action to the full Senate.

• The Senate votes on a resolution of ratification, through which it gives advice and consent rather than directly bringing the treaty into force.
• Consent may be subject to reservations, understandings or declarations, which qualify the Senate’s approval or clarify its interpretation of the agreement.
• Conditions affecting international obligations may require acceptance by the other treaty parties; a Senate vote cannot unilaterally rewrite an agreement for them.
• After receiving consent, the President decides whether to ratify. International entry into force then follows the treaty’s own requirements, such as exchange or deposit of instruments of ratification.

Significance and limits

The power is an important check on executive authority: a President cannot complete the constitutional treaty process merely by negotiating and signing an agreement.

• The supermajority requirement encourages support beyond a narrow Senate majority, but can also delay or prevent treaty commitments.
• Not every international agreement follows this procedure. Executive agreements may rest on other legal authority, including congressional authorisation, an existing treaty or the President’s constitutional powers.
• Senate consent does not necessarily supply all domestic implementing law; some treaty obligations require subsequent legislation.