This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, February 14th, 2014.

I'm Caleb Brown, a cheating husband, a spurned wife, and chemical warfare.

Well, not exactly.

The case of a woman trying to harm her romantic rival shouldn't

implicate US treaty obligations against chemical weapons, but the Supreme Court

ultimately will answer this question anyway. Bob Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute,

says in the case of Bond v United States,

there's more at work than mere infidelity.

Treaties have an explicit role in the U Constitution and there are explicit powers granted with respect to how those are issued and ratified.

Can you walk us through just the basic details of that?

Well, they do have the force of law.

They're negotiated by the president.

They require the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate.

The House of Representatives isn't involved.

The president does have fairly extensive power to negotiate these treaties because he is commander-in-chief and he does exercise great power.

Much more than he does in the domestic area, he does exercise great power in foreign policy areas and also national security areas.

So negotiated by the president, approved by the Senate,

no involvement by the House.

And this president has indicated

that he is going to use the treaty power,

not just to involve himself in foreign policy issues,

but to go even further.

...