One of the tests includes a desire of lawmakers from both chambers to weigh-in on an international agreement. But this is all up to interpretation. And facing a hostile, Republican House and Senate, Obama knew it was unlikely he’d find much support on Capitol Hill. So he simply inked the deal for the U.S. with an executive order last autumn.

Without congressional sign-off, this calls into question whether the U.S. was ever formally “in” the Paris agreement.

And as recent history has shown, the U.S. has elected to “join” international agreements via legislative votes in both the House and Senate, rather than following the Founders prescribed method of submitting a treaty to the Senate for the advice and consent of 67 senators.

This is the latest incident in a growing trend of bypassing the Senate and the provisions dictated in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.