by jpitney | Sep 2, 2020 | Congress, Constitution, Presidency, Separation of Powers
Mort Halperin and Soren Dayton at The Washington Post: Consider one proposal for limiting the president’s national emergency powers: Sen. Mike Lee’s Article One Act. Under this, a presidentially declared national emergency would expire after 30 days — unless Congress...
by jpitney | Aug 16, 2020 | Civil Rights, Constitution, Deliberation
General James Mattis: America is not some finished work or failed project but an ongoing experiment. And it is an experiment that, by design, will never end. If parts of the machine are broken, then the responsibility of citizens is to fix the machine—not throw it...
by jpitney | Aug 7, 2020 | Constitution, Madison
Martin Skold and J. Furman Daniel at The Bulwark: As George Will articulated in his recent book, one of few constants in American conservatism over the centuries is its veneration of the Madisonian Constitution, not merely as a legal system to be manipulated or...
by jpitney | Jul 30, 2020 | Constitution, Elections, Electoral College, Emergency
Jacob Shelly at the Congressional Research Service: Unlike the practice of some states that allow the Governor to postpone an election during emergencies, neither the Constitution nor Congress provides any similar power to the President or other federal officials to...
by jpitney | Apr 20, 2020 | Congress, Constitution, Presidency
In some states, the results of the 2020 presidential election might be in dispute. And a 269-269 tie is possible, albeit unlikely. What then? Under the 12th Amendment, the newly-elected House picks the president — with each state getting one vote — and...
by jpitney | Mar 31, 2020 | Congress, Constitution, House of Representatives, Uncategorized
In 2003, Rep. David Dreier explained why we should fill mass vacancies in the House through expedited special elections, not appointment: I think that Chairman Sensenbrenner has very ably focused on two of the authors of the Federalist, James Madison and Alexander...
