What’s More Popular than Congress?
WaPo (Lifestyle, again): “Cloning sheep. Cloning humans, even. Caning teen vandals. Believing that aliens have descended from space and abducted humans.”
Category Archives: legislation and legislatures
“ABA Calls for Tougher Lobbying Rules”
Roll Call reports.
“American Bar Association Urges Strengthening of Lobbying Laws”
The Campaign Legal Center has issued this press release.
House and Senate Working on “Honest Services” Amendment
BNA reports here ($) that “[t]he Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced new legislation to close gaps in federal anti-corruption laws created by recent court decisions, and key Senate lawmakers said they now are working closely with their House colleagues to… Continue reading
Sunshine on the Supercommittee
Sunlight Foundation is calling for transparency by the debt-reduction supercommittee. Sunlight also has posted a debt ceiling legislative action calendar.
Update: AP reports here on Public Campaign’s demand that supercommittee members refrain from all political fundraising.
Is the Super-Committee an Antidote to Hyperpolarization?
This is at the outskirts of election law, but this Politico story on liberal and conservative bloggers’ shared wariness of the debt agreement got me thinking. As Rick Pildes has explained, extreme party polarization has made governance increasingly difficult. The… Continue reading
John Stewart Updates “I’m Just a Bill” with a Beat Up Dodd-Frank
Readers know I like to start my Legislation course with various versions of the Schoolhouse Rock song, “I’m Just a Bill.” Now comes this hilarious parody from “the Daily Show,” with John Oliver as a bloodied version of Dodd-Frank. Not… Continue reading
“Shifting Power in Sacramento: The Effects of Term Limits on Legislative Staff”
Another new article. The abstract:
Does legislative staff become more powerful when state legislators are term limited? This article explores the impact of term limits on the power and duties of staff. Staff play an important role in today’s… Continue reading
More on ALEC as well
Bloomberg reports on Koch Industries and Exxon Mobil’s involvement in ALEC.
Mike Allen yawns:
“–PLAYBOOK TRANSLATION: The collusion turns out to be a think tank’s model legislation, called up on the web by like-minded legislators. The ‘seat at… Continue reading
New term-limits study
A new CGS study on California’s term limits is covered here by the LA Times.
“Not-So-Representative Investors”
Do not miss John Schwartz’s Essay in the New York Times. It begins:
SHOW me a new study about water on the moon, or why pregnant women don’t tip over, and I’m happy as a pig in whatever it is… Continue reading
Dog That Did Not Bark Canon in Yesterday’s Per Curiam
Following up on this post, I was reading Josh Blackman’s post on yesterday’s Supreme Court per curiam opinion. Josh makes an interesting comparison about the Court waiting for Congress to act in the NAMUDNO case compared to this one,… Continue reading
“First, we are doubtful that it is ever appropriate to stay a lower court judgment in light of unenacted legislation.”
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 per curiam opinion issued today denying a stay of an execution in a case with international law ramifications. More from Jess Bravin.
Breaking News: Former Rep. Renzi Loses Appeal on Speech or Debate Clause Grounds in Ninth Circuit
I have posted the opinion in United States v. Renzi at this link. There is also an unpublished portion of the opinion (which I have not seen), reinstating the racketeering act dismissed by the district court.
Here is the… Continue reading