Questions tagged [united-states]
Questions relating to the government or the politics of the United States of America
3,003 questions
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Why do Special Counsels (and other similar offices) exist if investigations can be conducted by other clearer means?
Background
I recently read an article about the Special Counsel regulations from Neal Katyal, and how it could be maintained in a scenario where it is stifled. That said, I know that other branches ...
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5answers
2k views
Why would a Western country sanction Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's possible killing?
Suppose, hypothetically, it is determined that the Saudi Arabian government murdered Jamal Khashoggi over his opposition to Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
I can understand why this would be an unethical ...
0
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1answer
69 views
FISA warrants: why are the dates still redacted?
In July, the DoJ released 412 pages of heavily redacted documents related to the FISA court's approval of surveillance of Carter Page, a U.S. citizen. The redactions, have become controversial.
...
14
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2answers
2k views
When did Elizabeth Warren first refer to her Native American ancestry?
I am assuming that Trump calls Elizabeth warren Pocahontas because at some point in the past she made reference to her Native American ancestry. Is this assumption correct?
If so, when/how did she ...
5
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1answer
72 views
Do senators control PACs?
I recently saw a hidden video on Senator Claire McCaskill in which one of her staffers said that "we get a lot of money from Chuck Schumer". The interviewer then asks how this is possible and the ...
22
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4answers
2k views
Why is Elizabeth Warren's Native American ancestry a political issue?
In the past (perhaps during her Senate campaign), Senator Elizabeth Warren has mentioned that she has some Native American blood in her geneology. For some reason, Donald Trump has accused her of ...
3
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2answers
123 views
How do Chief Justices of the Supreme Court get replaced?
I'm wondering how do Chief Justices of the United States get replaced? According to wikipedia, the last Chief Justice, Judge William Rehnquist was initially an Associate Justice. President Reagan ...
2
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0answers
55 views
What happens to disaster relief money?
Last year, apparently, the United States spent an (unbudgeted) $140 billion on disaster relief for areas hit by hurricanes. What exactly happens to this money? What is it spent on?
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3answers
142 views
Why is the US presidential election typically viewed as a bigger deal than the midterm elections?
From my understanding of US politics, Congress / the legislative branch has more power than the President / the executive branch. Doesn't this mean that the midterm elections are far more important ...
3
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3answers
80 views
In the US, how much power does the president have over the federal budget?
If the president wants to change spending in one direction, like to adjust the deficit without changing taxes, how much could they move it?
I suspect that the president would just get impeached in ...
9
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2answers
555 views
Impeachment trial proceedings of a Vice President
Since the Vice President is also president of the Senate, what mechanism is there to prevent him from presiding over his own impeachment trial?
Article I.3 makes no specific mention of this.
Does ...
3
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1answer
93 views
Does all private land in the US trace its origin to a US government patent
I just wonder if all private land in the US traces its origin to a patent, or if the patents were established on property people already owned on the frontier as the governed area expanded, so the ...
2
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1answer
52 views
When did the tradition of Capitol-building-lawn comments start?
After a number of highly-contested partisan votes in Congress, opposition parties have been known to show their strong disagreement by holding press conferences in front of the Capitol building with ...
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1answer
100 views
Instead of proposing a “dialogic process” for judicial review, why doesn't Mark Tushnet want to amend the Constitution as necessary?
In a recent Vox.com interview with Harvard legal scholar Mark Tushnet, Dr. Tushnet presented his ideas to journalist Sean Illing:
Sean Illing
How unusual is it for a liberal democratic system ...
5
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1answer
219 views
Is Judge Roberts committed to the status quo against partisanship?
I was surprised to see some commentary in this answer and its comments indicating that Supreme Court Justice John Roberts is committed to maintaining status quo jurisprudence against substantial ...
6
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1answer
158 views
Why don't third parties in the United States advocate for Approval/Range Voting?
I've been thinking a lot about governance systems and how a certain governance structure may systemically reinforce certain behaviors.
Specifically, it seems experimentally impossible for third ...
63
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10answers
22k views
How did the Kavanaugh confirmation move so quickly despite the serious allegations?
I did not pay attention to the news for a few days and am completely confused now. Last I saw, Kavanaugh was in the midst of his sexual assault hearings. I thought Trump had said he would let a ...
5
votes
5answers
354 views
Has the abolishment of the FCC fairness doctrine led to political polarization in the US?
From after World War II the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enforced as policy (fairness doctrine), which required broadcasters to discuss controversial matters of public interest and give ...
2
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0answers
176 views
+100
What are the effects of the HR392 (fairness for skilled immigrant workers) bill?
Recently, there is a lengthy discussion about HR392 (fairness for skilled immigrant workers) in the US house and senate. It means if this bill will be passed by the house and senate, the limitation of ...
2
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1answer
137 views
Health care ballot initiative for nurse staffing: why no compromise?
Next month the voters in Massachusetts USA will be asked to decide whether to enact a law mandating certain specific nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in hospitals. Why was there no compromise? Why did ...
7
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2answers
270 views
Are there any statistics on Eminent Domain?
I googled and only found some feeble neglected Quora questions on this. Can anyone help? Any stats on:
How many times has eminent domain been used at any or all levels of government in any year
The ...
-1
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2answers
373 views
What were the political reasons for the U.S. using the stripes of the British East India Company flag on the U.S. national flag? [on hold]
The stripes on the flag of the United States
are identical to the stripes on the British East India Company flag.
What were the political reasons for the United States deciding to use the design of ...
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3answers
393 views
Is the U.S. Constitution a religious-based document if it was written to be in alignment with Judeo-Christian morals and values?
If the founding fathers wrote the original U.S. Constitution to be in alignment with Judeo-Christian morals and values, does this mean that it was indirectly a religious-based document, and if so, ...
3
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0answers
75 views
Are there some studies which measure the level of politicization of courts in a trans-Atlantic perspective?
It's easy enough to find a Europe-only comparative perspective on the politicization of the judiciary, e.g. Werkmann (2017):
The authors measured the level of politicization in each
country ...
8
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1answer
498 views
Does voting for Kavanaugh really improve Manchin's chances of re-election?
The BBC and Independent reports I've read estimate that Democrat US Senator Joe Manchin's vote to confirm Kavanaugh to the US supreme court may increase his chances to win re-election in West Virginia,...
73
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10answers
16k views
Why is the debate on the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court so politicised?
Why is the debate on the composition of the United States Supreme Court so politicised?
Many other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, European Union, and others, have courts ...
3
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1answer
432 views
Why don't Democrats encourage Christine Blasey Ford to file a criminal complaint against Kavanaugh in Maryland to trigger a local investigation? [closed]
This analysis indicates that a complaint should trigger an investigation in this case. In particular, there's good reason to believe there is no statute of limitations in effect:
Maryland’s former ...
8
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1answer
232 views
What is the US senate mechanism for members to respond to/challenge each other during debate?
I have been following Dutch politics for a while now, and what makes debates interesting is interruptions; When somebody doesn't agree with what a speaker is saying they can step up to the microphone ...
3
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1answer
92 views
Who presides over the US Senate on a day-to-day basis?
In the Senate, they always seem to be addressing "Mister President" or "Madame President", and occasionally the presiding Senator says something - but it's never clear who that is (I listen to ...
-1
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1answer
210 views
Where does China buy its hi-tech weapons from other than Russia?
If US sanction on Russia kicks in, where can China look for buying its hi-tech weapons?
Does China have any source other than Russia to buy its weapons from?
.
P.S. By hi-tech weapons, I meant ...
0
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0answers
288 views
How is the US' “Presidential Alert” system safeguarded against inappropriate or unauthorized use?
CNN's Feds send first emergency message test to cell phones describes the system and includes simple explanations like:
It's called the "presidential alert," but the President doesn't actually ...
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0answers
55 views
Can infrastructure building be sped up? [closed]
I was watching road construction and it seemed to me like adding more trucks wouldnt help the problem. The trucks were just backed up because only one could work on each lane. Adding more trucks in ...
4
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4answers
603 views
Why weren't allegations based on Judge Kavanaugh's 1983 yearbook, raised during his nomination in 2006 to the DC Circuit?
I refer only to the allegations based on the Hon. Judge Kavanaugh's 1983 yearbook from Georgetown Preparatory School (like 'Renate Alumnus', and alcoholic consumption slang), and not those that were ...
8
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1answer
357 views
Did Brett Kavanaugh perjure himself with regard to a New Yorker article?
According to an October 1, 2018 article by Heidi Przybyla and Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News:
Kavanaugh told the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath that the first time he heard of Ramirez’s ...
14
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0answers
562 views
Watergate, the burglars - why bring crisp cash with them to the break-in? [migrated]
My question, however technical it may be, … why did the burglars bring crisp new dollar bills with them to the actual break-in?
It might be an obscure Watergate question but no one has focused or ...
5
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1answer
179 views
Does the US withdrawal from 1955 Treaty of Amity have any effect on the ICJ's vote about US sanctions on Iran?
As you may already know, today the International Court of Justice ordered the United States to lift new Iran sanctions. The news headline says:
The UN’s international court of justice has ...
7
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3answers
467 views
Is there any talk to change the nomination process for the SCOTUS?
I have previously asked why the SCOTUS (Supreme Court Of The United States) nomination and confirmation process is what it is.
What I gather is that it ideally is a way to keep the Judicial branch ...
19
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3answers
3k views
What's the difference between a public office having 'discretion' over a 'mandate' to do something?
CRC Resolution No. 2018-002 on the ballot for Broward county in Florida reads:
Shall the Broward County Charter be amended to give the Broward County Office of Inspector
General discretion, as ...
2
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3answers
435 views
Do originalist U.S. Supreme Court justices tend to be politically right-leaning?
Is there significant overlap between originalism and political conservatism?
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4answers
249 views
How do social security payments compare to investing the same amount of money in treasury bonds?
Social security tax is about 12% of income. The average income in 1950 was about 3k adjusted for inflation. If someone in 1950 worked a full career (30 to 65) and invested at a typical 10y treasury ...
7
votes
1answer
275 views
Why is Obama releasing his 2018 endorsements in “waves?”
Today, former U.S. President Barack Obama released a second round of endorsements for the 2018 midterm elections in a tweet, including this text:
Today, I’m proud to endorse even more Democratic ...
46
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4answers
23k views
What does Kanye (Ye) West actually mean by “Abolish the 13th Amendment”?
On his Saturday Night Live appearance on the 29th of September 2018, Kanye West spoke on "abolishing the 13th amendment". (This may have been stewing for a while, but that is when I first became ...
3
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1answer
1k views
USMCA vs NAFTA, what's different?
Breakng news:
"Today, Canada and the United States reached an agreement, alongside Mexico, on a new, modernized trade agreement for the 21st Century: the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement," US ...
5
votes
2answers
388 views
How do we know U.S. elections are free and fair with accurate counting of the popular votes?
People speculate that votes are not properly counted -- even in the U.S. Have Gallup polls or well-respected independent entities tried to confirm U.S. election outcomes?
Update on 10/13/18: ...
4
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2answers
415 views
Why can't the Republican party force a vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh?
In the related question What do Democrats have to gain, politically, by preventing Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court? various aspects of how the Democrats benefit from delaying the ...
5
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2answers
2k views
What were the previous 6 FBI investigations of Brett Kavanaugh?
Donald Trump tweeted:
Just started, tonight, our 7th FBI investigation of Judge Brett
Kavanaugh. He will someday be recognized as a truly great Justice of
The United States Supreme Court!
What ...
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2answers
102 views
Would federal agencies have enough power to run the country without the government?
Essentially all the federal agencies have control over their spending. The DOT can raise revenue by road tolls, DOE has royalties, Medicare/ss can garnish small amounts of wages that aren't worth ...
30
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5answers
7k views
What does Brett Kavanaugh mean with “revenge on behalf of the Clintons”?
During his personal statement in confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Brett Kavanaugh said:
This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, ...
6
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1answer
147 views
Why is the US federal government allowed to shutdown?
According to Wikipedia from October 1 to October 17, 2013, the United States federal government entered a shutdown:
(..) curtailed most routine operations because neither legislation
...
1
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1answer
400 views
Dem anti-Kavanaugh strategy: why focus on sexual assault allegations, as opposed to a blend of issues? [closed]
The Democratic party seems to be putting a lot (all?) of its hopes on the Ford sexual assault allegations for blocking the Kavanaugh nomination. Media coverage has been extensive and highly polarized.
...
