Reading Room Document

Legislation Prohibiting Spending for Delegations to U.N. Agencies Chaired by Countries That Support International Terrorism

Section 7054 of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2009—which purports to prohibit all funds made available under title I of that Act from being used to pay the expenses for any United States delegation to a specialized U.N. agency, body, or commission that is chaired or presided over by a country with a government that the Secretary of State has determined supports international terrorism—unconstitutionally infringes on the President's authority to conduct the Nation's diplomacy, and the State Department may disregard it. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/olc/file/2009-06-01-un-delegs/download.

June 1, 2009