http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=5719

LUMBER LOBBY CHOPS NAFTA DOWN?
Thursday, January 19, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

A lobbying group representing the U.S. lumber industry has filed a lawsuit, charging President Bush and Congress with constitutional violations against free trade. According to a story in the Toronto Globe and Mail, the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports is charging Bush and Congress of bursting the constitutional envelope when they "outsourced" control of U.S. laws to NAFTA dispute-settlement panels. The CFLI argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals that the North American free-trade agreement's dispute-settlement system is unconstitutional and should be struck down.

Its brief reportedly includes the following: "Congress impermissibly outsourced to [bi-national panels] the power to interpret and apply U.S. law and precluded all judicial review of decisions rendered by [bi-national panels]. Decisions that may be completely arbitrary and capricious, or rendered by biased panelists, cannot be reviewed by any court."

A hearing in the new case, which could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, is expected as early as June, but no court date has been set. The defendants in the case are U.S. President George W. Bush, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner.

staff reports - Free-Market News Network