Allies in the Fight Against "Fast Track"

100 Law Professors Urge ISDS Removal from Proposed Trade Deals

More than 100 law professors wrote a letter opposing trade language that fails to "protect the rule of law and the nation's sovereignty." The letter is addressed to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader Harry Reid, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.

"As members of the legal community, we write to oppose the inclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)," the scholars wrote. "As you consider trade authority legislation and negotiate these agreements, we urge you to protect the rule of law and our nation's sovereignty by ensuring ISDS is not included."

The writers include heavyweight law school professors, starting with Constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky.

ISDS, they said in the letter, "grants foreign corporations a special legal privilege, the right to initiate dispute settlement proceedings against a government for actions that allegedly cause a loss of profit for the corporation. Essentially, corporations use ISDS to challenge government policies, actions, or decisions that they allege reduce the value of their investments. These challenges are not heard in a normal court but instead before a tribunal of private lawyers."

The campaign was organized by the Alliance for Justice, a CWA ally in the fight for Senate rules reform and to defeat "fast track."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Sounds the "Investor State" Warning

In a teleconference organized by the Alliance for Justice, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said opposition to provisions in the TPP trade deal that would allow multinationals to sue governments in international tribunals over laws and regulations that could affect their "expected future profits" isn't limited to progressive lawmakers like her. Conservatives hate it, too.

"This is not a partisan issue," the Massachusetts senator said. "Conservatives who believe in American sovereignty are outraged that ISDS [investor-state dispute settlement] shifts power from American courts to unaccountable international tribunals."

Warren called ISDS a "powerful provision that will further tilt the playing field in the U.S. in favor of powerful multinationals corporations, and worse, undermine U.S. sovereignty." And ISDS cases have exploded in the last several years, she added.

"With more and more American corporations headquartered abroad, it's only a matter of time before ISDS does serious damage to the U.S.," Warren said. Warren echoed CWA President Larry Cohen's take on ISDS in his Huffington Post column last week. Jeff Zients, Director of the National Economic Council, one of two bodies that advise the President on economic matters, attacked Warren's position. CWA President Larry Cohen supported Warren in his column.

Reps. Grijalva and Ellison Vow to Reject "Fast Track"

Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva and Keith Ellison, co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are telling the world why they won't rubber-stamp the TPP in an article in the Guardian newspaper. 

Desperate and Dishonest "Fast Track" Promotion Campaign

Proponents of TPP reached a new low this week with a public relations campaign to promote "fast track" under the name the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs.

The only problems with the campaign's name are that it is not progressive, it is not a coalition and it is meant to destroy American jobs. Also, there's already a vast progressive coalition and it is lined up against "fast track" for bad trade deals like the TPP.

Proponents of the TPP have asked Congress to cede its Constitutional role to examine trade deals by giving the administration "fast track" (dubbed Trade Promotion) authority on trade deals. If Congress acquiesces, it forgoes the ability to amend trade deals.

"Progressives don't support bad trade deals that outsource jobs and lower wages. Instead, they want to create more good-paying jobs in America – and for workers globally," the AFL-CIO said in a statement. "Sticking the word 'progressive' on a corporate-driven campaign for a destructive trade deal is purposefully hollow and delusional."

Talk about dishonest.