Questions tagged [constitution]
A constitution is a framework for government, and serves as a set of founding principles for the entity.
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Can the U.S. Senate hold an impeachment trial if the House "passes" articles of impeachment but does not "transmit" them to the Senate?
After passing articles of impeachment against the President, Speaker Pelosi has announced she will not immediately send the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial.
What does this actually ...
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In the US, what is the role of and relationship between federal law and state law?
(This is an attempt at a canonical question about an important distinction in US law and politics that is different than many other countries. It was suggested by this comment on another question. I'm ...
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Can the Supreme Court overturn an impeachment?
Article 2, Section 4 of the US Constitution states:
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, ...
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How could Philadelphia join New Jersey?
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Senate voted to block a Philadelphia law which would require paid sick leave for employees. This is just one in a long series of examples where the heavily-Democrat ...
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What is the debt ceiling and what happens if we reach it?
Over the past few years, there has been debate in congress as to whether or not to raise the debt ceiling.
My question is simple(the answer to it might not be):
What Is the debt ceiling, under what ...
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What happens if no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes?
I have seen polls that indicate that Evan McMullin is statistically even with Trump and Clinton in the state of Utah. With the possibility of six votes taken away by another candidate it is possible ...
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How were Donald Trump's 2015 comments about Muslim immigrants unconstitutional?
A 2015 campaign press release from Donald Trump, back then the leading contender to become the Republican party’s nominee for US presidential candidate, called to ban Muslims from entering the United ...
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If a president does extra-constitutional things, what can be done?
Over the past decade or so, there has been a lot of noise regarding the Executive branch doing extra-legal things.
Between the Bush-era Torture scandal, and the Obama-era drone strikes, it ...
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Notwithstanding Clause of Canadian Constitution
The Canadian Constitution has a clause commonly referred to as the Notwithstanding Clause.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_33_of_the_Canadian_Charter_of_Rights_and_Freedoms
Basically, it ...
user21424
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Was the change in government in Ukraine legal?
President Putin recently called the change in government in Ukraine an "anti-constitutional coup and a military seizure of power". Obviously, the interim government and their Western allies disagree, ...
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The authority to convene a new House of Representatives
On the wikipedia page for the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, there is a passage:
To preserve the legal continuity of the House, the existence of the House is vested in the Clerk at the ...
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Who enforces the insurrection rules in the 14th Amendment, section 3?
The 14th amendment says:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or ...
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Who will be Georgia's senators from January 3rd 2021 until the results of the January 5th runoff elections are known?
The 20th amendment to the constitution of the USA states
The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at ...
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How many terms can a former vice-president president serve?
If a president were to be unable to serve, with the vice-president becoming president, how many terms would they be able to run/serve for?
Say the president is unable to serve 2 years into their ...
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What is the minimum number of Legislators required to pass various Acts of Congress?
Since the US Constitutional Quorum for most purposes is a majority of each house of Congress, can bills pass that house with a majority of the quorum or do they need a majority of the total seats of ...
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Are there constitutional arguments for preventing/avoiding judicial review of state law in some scenarios? Are there any historical examples of this?
From CNN's video coverage of US Attorney General Merrick Garland announcement of its lawsuit against the state of Texas:
Q: ...several GOP lawmakers who said that they will follow Texas’ lead, and I ...
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Does the Constitution allow a woman to be President of the United States?
The Constitution of the United States of America frequently refers to the President using male pronouns. For instance:
He shall hold his Office
Not once is the president referred to with a female ...
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How are conflicts between constitutional and treaty obligations resolved?
The present Constitution of Bolivia, which came into effect on the 7th of February 2009, has this to say about coca (an English translation follows the original Spanish):
Artículo 384. El Estado ...
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Why was the prohibition of intoxicating liquor enacted through a constitutional amendment?
It seems to me that a constitutional amendment is a rather heavy-handed tool to outlaw alcohol.
Why wasn't it outlawed through an act of Congress? It seems to me that this is perfectly possible, ...
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Doesn't the system of the Supreme Court oppose justice?
I'm new to US politics and the Judicial Branch in the US.
First to clarify:
I know that members of the supreme court get chosen by the president and therefore often share the same political views. I'm ...
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Why can't the public vote to impeach a president?
I am new to American politics, so this question maybe very fundamental. I understand that impeachment is a legislative process akin to criminal indictment, and the House and the Senate compose the ...
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Why haven't any new constitutional amendments been ratified in the US since 1971?
Looking at the list of the US constitutional amendments it seems that no amendments have been successfully proposed and ratified since 1971, which is 46 years ago. Another amendment has also been ...
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Are non-U.S. citizens permitted the same rights afforded by the constitution?
I'm somewhat confused by the different types of non-Citzens living in the United States and what rights are or are not afforded to them.
My limited understanding is that there are the following broad ...
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Are all retroactive laws, ex post facto laws?
In the United States, Congress' seeming inability to pass a fiscal cliff bill before the 1/1/13 12:00 AM deadline has sparked discussion that Congress could potentially pass a bill sometime in January ...
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Which countries have largely copied article 49 para 3 of the French constitution?
Roughly speaking, article 49.3 of the French constitution allows the government to pass a law without an explicit vote in the legislative assembly by "committing government's responsibility"....
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Why doesn't the Presidential Pardon power extend to State Crimes? [duplicate]
Paragraph One of Article 2, Section 2 of the United States constitution contains the following text:
"The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United ...
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Constitutionality of travel ban/sanctuary cities
Every single time sanctuary cities and cutting funding or the travel ban are mentioned on the news, every objection to them is based on claims of unconstitutionality. I am confused by this though. In ...
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Would the JCPOA be considered a treaty or an executive agreement?
Would the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action be considered a treaty or an executive agreement? I understand that in order for a treaty to be considered, the president must seek the approval of the ...
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Does a President have to be sworn in by a SCOTUS justice, if not then who has that authority?
I'm aware that by tradition a President is sworn in by a SCOTUS justice, but I'm wondering if this is necessary? My context is the show Designated Survivor. Absent SCOTUS, what if any provision is ...
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Why has Libertarianism achieved so little as a political ideology in the World?
Since Libertarianism can be defined as a political philosophy that advocates only minimal state intervention in the free market and the private lives of citizens, but when it comes to actual policies, ...
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If the Supreme Court were depopulated, what powers would be lost?
If, due to some doubly unlikely and unhappy combination of accident and obstinacy:
a sitting Supreme Court were to (as a whole) perish or all retire, (whether suddenly or gradually),
a lengthy ...
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Could an American presidential election be overturned by state legislatures?
If a political party (Party A) has a nominee that Party B does not like and Party A’s candidate wins by a relatively small electoral margin (318 to 220), can party B appoint sham electors to vote for ...
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Given the principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty in the United Kingdom, how would the UK go about adopting a written constitutional settlement?
Given the principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty in the United Kingdom, which holds that:
Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament the supreme legal ...
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How close does the Texas law that bars most abortions after six weeks come to saying 'Defendants can't assert constitutionally protected rights?'
In the CNN video Toobin: This is the most important question a justice asked
CNN Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin shares his thoughts on the Supreme Court justices' questions as they hear oral ...
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Are there any ways, besides death, for a sitting US President to be dismissed automatically?
Are there any ways that a sitting US President could be dismissed from office automatically, without a lengthy process by Congress?
(Besides the trivial one: death?)
Perhaps some qualifications that ...
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Does the Senate need supermajority or just a regular majority to prevent a convicted President from running for office again? [duplicate]
The Constitution allows the Senate to punish an impeached President with prevention from holding an important office in the future, do they need 2/3rds of the Senate to do this or 2/3rds for a ...
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Can the US government repeal or remove an article or amendment from the Constitution?
Can the United States Government vote to repeal current articles or amendments from the constitution? Or is the constitution forever?
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Why didn't Barack Obama try to force the Senate to hold hearings on SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland?
US Constitution Article 2 says this about the appointments to the Supreme Court:
[the President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent
of the Senate, shall appoint (...) Judges ...
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How did Gödel believe the US could become a dictatorship without the constitution being violated?
Kurt Gödel seems to have proven that this is possible, according to the Wikipedia article:
On December 5, 1947, Einstein and Morgenstern accompanied Gödel to his U.S. citizenship exam, where they ...
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Why do the supreme court justices have a life term period?
The justices of the Supreme Court of the United States is composed by chief justices which have a life-term period on that position after they are "elected".
I have always asked to myself why some ...
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Can the vice president of the United States be fired?
Does the vice-president serve at the discretion of the president, such that he or she can be removed from office at the president's will?
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How does DOMA get around the "Full Faith and Credit" clause to the Constitution?
Regardless of what one feels about "gay marriage", the recent decision by the Supreme Court to review the case brings up an interesting Constitutional question. Namely, if, say, Maryland recognizes ...
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Can a US president be "re-impeached" by a new Congress on the same charges? Or would double jeopardy apply?
Double jeopardy is a pretty fundamental element to the US criminal justice system, but does it apply to a US President (or other impeachable official) and the trial-like impeachment proceedings in ...
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What are the limits of the second amendment?
The second amendment of the US constitution states:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
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What election rules and voting rights are guaranteed by the US Constitution?
Following the recent US Supreme Court decision that gerrymandering for political purposes is not prohibited by the US Constitution, I realized that it can be hard to understand what rules related to ...
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Could the second amendment be, well, amended? [duplicate]
Considering the criticism from some regarding the Second Amendment and gun control laws, supposing Americans voted that they didn't want the second amendment anymore or wanted it changed (by majority ...
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Why can't gun control legislation get passed?
I'm specifically referring to things like closing the gun show loophole and limiting access of those with mental illness to guns.
It seems absurd that those representing guns, a consumer product, ...
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Does substantive due process apply to the Second Amendment?
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, in part, "No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Since the 1930's, the Supreme Court ...
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Can the President of the United States be denied security clearance?
In light of the recent investigation of Hillary Clinton and her aides in regards to E-mails sent via her personal E-mail that contained classified material, I am wondering if the state department has ...
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When may the President of the United States order military action without congressional approval?
The USA has many times in the past taken military action with only the President's order to back it up legally. It was Jefferson that set the precedent of using the military to enforce foreign policy ...
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