Reading Room Document

Authority of the President to Suspend Certain Provisions of the ABM Treaty

This opinion concludes that President Bush's partial suspension of the Treaty on Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems ("The ABM Treaty") is constitutional, since a partial suspension of the ABM Treaty is not a treaty "amendment" that would be subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, and the president exercises all other (unenumerated) powers related to treaty making. This opinion was partially rescinded in 2009. 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 https://justice.gov/olc/docs/memoabmtreaty11152001.pdf.

November 15, 2001