President Obama Earns Four Pinnocchios for Statements on Republican Senate Filibusters
WaPo‘s Fact Checker..
Category Archives: legislation and legislatures
“The Polarized Court”
Must-read Adam Liptak on the confluence of the ideological and partisan divide on the modern Supreme Court.
At the end of my piece on congressional overrides of the Supreme Court’s statutory cases, I reflect on how perceived partisanship of the… Continue reading
As Predicted, Congressional Override of SCOTUS on Child Pornography Proceeds Full Speed Ahead
Back in April I explained why conditions were right, despite great political polarization, for Congress to override the Supreme Court’s statutory decision in Paroline v. US on the right of child pornography victims to obtain restitution.
And very quickly now… Continue reading
“How Not to Pick Judges”
Maya Sen in the NYT Sunday Review:
RESEARCH has long shown that female judges vote differently from men on issues of sex discrimination, harassment and sentencing, while black judges vote differently from whites on issues involving civil rights and affirmative… Continue reading
“The Public Eye: Big business channels money to California’s moderate Democrats”
“The Court and Congress: The Child Pornography Case”
Rick Pildes on Paroline and congressional overrides:
Initially, the question is whether the Court should try to put Humpty Dumpty back together again: should the Court construct a version of the law that creates a rough approximation of what Congress… Continue reading
“House Lawyers Defend ‘Speech or Debate’ Protections”
Legal Times:
A bipartisan group of congressional leaders filed court papers Tuesday defending the constitutional shield that protects members of Congress and their staff from being forced to provide information about legislative activities.
The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of… Continue reading
“Congressional Overrides of Supreme Court Statutory Interpretation Decisions, 1967–2011”
Matthew Christiansen and Bill Eskridge have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming Texas Law Review). Here is the abstract:
In 1991, one of us published a groundbreaking study demonstrating that Congress frequently overrides Supreme Court statutory interpretation decisions. The intervening… Continue reading
“Congressional committee chairs have lost much of their prestige, allure”
The Fix talks to Paul Kane.
“Corporate Lobbyists Assail Tax Overhaul They Once Cheered”
NYT: “The twist reflects how lobbying in Washington — and the millions of dollars in fees that lobbyists collect — are often about stopping action and preserving the status quo. Whenever Congress considers major changes to the tax code,… Continue reading
“GOP Gripes About ‘BullShit’ Vote”
Straight out of “House of Cards:”
Medicare doctor payments on Thursday without a full roll call vote.
“Outrageous,” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told The Hill after complaining about the maneuver to a colleague. “I think it’s outrageous.”
House Republican leaders… Continue reading
Re: From the Hobby Lobby oral argument: Should legislation passed by unanimous vote be invalidated or narrowly construed?
Will Baude’s Washington Post piece raises an interesting significance-of-the-legislative-process question. While Will (and the Court) frames the issue in constitutional terms, it has obvious statutory interpretation implications as well. Just a few things that popped out at me while reading… Continue reading
“From the Hobby Lobby oral argument: Should legislation passed by unanimous vote be invalidated or narrowly construed?”
Will Baude blogs.
I can’t remember if it was Will or someone else who pointed out, after Justice Scalia was incredulous that the vote in the Senate to renew the Voting Rights Act in 2006 was 98-0, that this… Continue reading
“D.C. Circuit sidesteps origination clause challenge to Obamacare”
I missed this news from Jonathan Adler: “On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its opinion in Association of American Physicians and Surgeons v. Sebelius, rejecting several challenges to the constitutionality or implementation… Continue reading