> So what happens if/when Obama signs this treaty and then
> enforces it without Senate approval?
Nothing.
The president has admiralty, treaty or no.
Difference is, the next president can choose to ignore it, UNLESS it is a treaty.
I don’t like it being one-vote close, either.
Nothing.
False. The President can begin to enforce the treaty ratification or no, pursuant to a treaty that was never ratified but by which the USA has abided for forty years: The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. That is why Bush rescinded the signature on the International Criminal Court treaty.
If BJ Clinton were running the show, he’d rename it as “the Law of the Sea Agreement” and declare victory with a mere majority.