Questions tagged [united-states]
Questions relating to the government or the politics of the United States of America
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Why are Republicans pushing merit-based immigration if the types of immigrants favored seem to cause more damage to Republicans electorally?
There was an article that talks about how Republicans tend to gain from immigrants. It talks about low-skilled immigrants driving native voters to Republicans: "Non-urban, low-skill counties with ...
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Why didn't the US government sanction the people at the helm of the government of Bangladesh? [closed]
Bangladesh protests US sanctions against RAB, security chiefs
Treasury Sanctions Perpetrators of Serious Human Rights Abuse on International Human Rights Day
A few days ago, the US treasury ...
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Penal labour in United States
Penal labour is banned in most if not all of the United Kingdom. Perhaps because of
No prisoner shall be employed, in the service of the institution, in any disciplinary capacity
https://www.ohchr....
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Did the US Supreme Court's recent ruling sidestep the issue of judicial review? (Whole Women's Health v. Jackson; challenge to Texas S.B. 8)
The following questions and their extensive answers cover the background of the issues well:
How close does the Texas law that bars most abortions after six weeks come to saying 'Defendants can&#...
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Of the 111(+?) invitees to the Biden administration's Summit on Democracy, did any country decline or refuse to participate? If so, any reasons given?
This answer to Did the Biden administration have a working definition of democracy when it chose which countries to invite to its "democracy summit"? cites US government officials and ...
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Did the Biden administration have a working definition of democracy when it chose which countries to invite to its "democracy summit"?
The New York Times' Biden Rallies Global Democracies as U.S. Hits a ‘Rough Patch’
The president kicked off his summit as critics questioned the guest list and whether the United States could be an ...
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Why does the United States government utilize random selection (a "lottery") to determine eligibility for an H-1B visa? [duplicate]
According to my understanding of the H-1B application process, applicants must be selected for further consideration by random selection (a "lottery").
Why doesn't the US consider all ...
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Is it common for politicians to share speeches they wrote but never gave?
Hillary Clinton has made public the speech she would have given had outcomes been different in the 2016 US Presidential Election.
I can only think of one other example of a high profile politician ...
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Why do the states have such heavy support banning abortion?
The political dynamic in the United States is that a small group of elites, the Supreme Court, has to read the tea leaves of the Constitution and extract imputed rights out of it that include the ...
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Ethnicity in the USA [closed]
As a European, I am confused about the use of names for ethnicities in the US. The background of my question is academic (I usually work with quantitative data on ethnicity on other continents, mostly ...
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Significance of the organized/unorganized attribution of US territories
Reading articles re US territories, two terms are given significant (e.g are in the heading chapter AND sidebar header of relevant Wikipedia article) reference: Incorporated/Unincorporated and ...
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How is Iran sustaining its economy?
Iran has been under US sanctions for a long time now.
Why isn't Iran collapsing like Venezuela or Cuba?
How is Iran sustaining its economy?
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Cook PVI of New York Independent Redistricting Commission proposals?
The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission has released congressional plans last September. FiveThirtyEight has documented the partisan lean of each district today according to its ...
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Why are legal decisions in the US so politicized?
(Not sure if this should be on the Law.SE. I'm guessing the answer is more political than legal, hence I'm asking it here.)
Example
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A difficult political atmosphere for ...
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Does the New York State Legislature have to accept a proposal from the state redistricting commission' without a 2/3 supermajority override vote?
In New York State, there is a bipartisan commission that was chosen by voters in 2014 and is designed to reduce the potential of bias from redistricting in the state. New York lawmakers tried to pass ...
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Why is the Second Amendment to the US constitution structured differently from all other amendments?
The Second Amendment reads as follows:
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 infringed.
This can be ...
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What racial classification systems are used for affirmative action?
Affirmative Action, in the context of race/ethnicity, can cover a variety of measures such as
simple non-discrimination (depending on definitions this might not be classed as "affirmative action&...
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What "processing" is necessary when releasing documents for a FOIA request?
The story is online:
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/wait-what-fda-wants-55-years-process-foia-request-over-vaccine-data-2021-11-18/
Overall it looks like the FDA can process 500 pages per ...
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As a UK resident, why are the comings and goings inside individual American schools reported on National news stations? [closed]
Growing up in the UK in the 90's, we didn't really care whether Bethany got in trouble for wearing her hair long, or Darren got in trouble for wearing a particular t-shirt. Now, however, such trivial ...
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Are House and Senate "debates" pointless, aside from some PR value? [duplicate]
I watch the House and Senate "debate" periods on bills and wonder who they are talking to and what is the point, aside from the later video clips. Has any Senator or Representative ever ...
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Why do US politicians use the title "czar?"
I've always found it odd that there are high-profile positions in the US using the title of "czar," which has obvious connotations to Russia. An example is John Kerry, who is often ...
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Why are new mothers apparently excluded from receiving the 2021 monthly "Advance Child Tax Credit Payments" if they filed taxes last year?
According to this Stack Exchange post, it appears that one cannot get the 2021 monthly "Advance Child Tax Credit Payments" for a child born or adopted in 2021 if they also filed taxes last ...
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Is there any similar example of the USA taking measures against a country for a similar reason? [closed]
Several days ago, some 27 US senators expressed their concern against the Turkish drone program.
Nowadays, a lot of nations have manufactured and sold drones including China.
So, why is the USA ...
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Has the US Department of Justice made an attempt to define what is or isn't journalistic activity? Developing new policy, but to what will it apply?
From Politico's FBI raid on Project Veritas founder’s home sparks questions about press freedom
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Garland was asked who qualifies as a journalist ...
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What is the definition of “small government” according to the Republican Party?
When Republican governors banned mask mandates in schools, many commentators called them out as hypocrites due to such bans violating the concept of “small government”. However this concept can have ...
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What power do politicians have in court cases?
What power do politicians have when it comes to court cases? For example, the Kyle Rittenhouse case is about to end, and some people believe that the judge in the case is biased against the ...
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What makes politicians so wealthy during their tenure?
I find it curious that so many politicians leave office much more wealthy than they enter it. I read the question about why do politicians make so much money, but the answers focus on their salary of ...
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Do American views on national racial issues fall among party lines when controlling for race?
Polls show that Democrats support "racial justice" ideas like equal prison sentences and slavery reparations at substantially higher rates than Republicans. For example, while reparations is ...
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How credible is the Afghanistan's ghost soldiers claim?
According to Afghanistan's ex-finance minister most of the 300,000 troops and police on the government's books did not exist.
However the salary of the soldiers were paid by the US army and they are ...
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Why are White Americans in the Southern region of the USA much more conservative and Republican than elsewhere?
Election results and polling show that White voters in the South are the most Republican and ideologically conservative in the entire country. This is especially evident in the votes cast in counties ...
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Are there cases in US history when the approval rating of the vice-president exceeded that of the POTUS for a substantial time?
Give that VP rating in the public eye seems to track pretty closely that of president, e.g.
Are there cases when the VP was consistently rated higher than the president for a substantial amounts of ...
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Is It A Coincidence That Election Day In The U.S. Is The Tuesday Closest To Guy Fawkes Day? [duplicate]
The question speaks for itself. An existing question is facially similar but doesn't get at this particular issue.
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NYC general mayoral and comptroller election results in New York State's 14th and 15th congressional districts?
I was researching NYC's mayoral election. Two districts stand out to me that are entirely within NYC: the 14th and 15th district. I am curious about how the election went in those two districts in ...
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Biden's motorcade at COP26
I note https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/67418/did-the-us-presidential-motorcade-contravene-uk-traffic-regulations which states that the motorcade vehicles had American-style red emergency ...
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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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What is the meaning of "political affiliation" when you register to vote? [duplicate]
When you register to vote, one of the boxes you have to check is one for "party affiliation".
What is the meaning of "party affiliation"? Does it mean that one is "locked"...
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What is a "sticker candidate"?
I'm looking through old election returns and saw that a candidate in the 1942 Michigan Senate election is listed as a "sticker candidate".
What is a "sticker candidate"?
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Why does the US care so much about China's hypersonic weapons?
Example: Gen. Mark Milley calls China's hypersonic weapon test 'very concerning'
If we currently have mutually assured destruction (MAD) where nobody can fire nuclear weapons because the other side ...
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What is the difference between funds being "authorized" and funds being "appropriated" in the IIJA?
I'm currently trying to understand H.R.3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) but there are a few things don't understand.
Authorization vs. Appropriation
As far as I understand, ...
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Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill (IIJA) [closed]
I'm currently trying to understand H.R.3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) but there are a few things I don't understand:
The price tag:
People are referring to the bill as the $1....
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Why do Republicans do relatively well with Asian Americans despite distinct ideological and non-racial demographic disdvantages?
On many issues from climate change to gun control, Asian Americans are the most likely to take left wing positions. In addition compared with the rest of the population, even when excluding White ...
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Politico's "Sinema rakes in Pharma and finance cash..." A salient issue and an exceptional pattern of donations, or just cherry picking of statistics?
Politico's October 15, 2021 Sinema rakes in Pharma and finance cash amid reconciliation negotiations begins
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) raised more campaign money in the last three months than in ...
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Why have Biden's approval polls consistently been dropping since August?
Since around the start of August, President Biden's approval began to tank. According to 538, Biden's approval is currently at 43.8%. They recently wrote an article about how his approval is dropping ...
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Why do Democrats make a big deal about new voting restrictions if research suggests they may backfire?
In previous elections, Democrats such as Stacey Abrams publicly said that the election system was being rigged against them by certain laws. While they put together a persuasive case, there is also ...
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Is running a fake campaign to siphon votes legal?
Let's say you want run for office as an independent candidate in a congressional or state legislative district that is expected to be a close election.
You run a quiet campaign for the purpose of ...
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Do candidates with Hispanic/Asian sounding surnames get extra Democratic support in low-information non-partisan state/local US elections?
It is well known that there are partisan differences in different racial groups in the United States. There are also smaller differences in how men and women tend to vote. White Americans favor ...
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Why does US law allow for a speaker that is not elected? [closed]
The question is based on an article from NPR which states that "there's no requirement that the speaker has to be an elected representative." Part of my question was not answered in the ...
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Non Elected House Speaker [duplicate]
This question is related to this article from NPR. The article states that "there's no requirement the speaker has to be an elected representative." This is referring to to US House. The ...
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Who are the prototypical modern-day slaves in the USA, according to Walk Free?
Walk Free's Global Slavery Index estimates there were 403,000 modern day slaves in the USA (in 2018), but that puts the USA in fairly good position per capita [in the Americas] with only 1.3 slaves ...
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Is the US developing an informal form of party discipline? [closed]
In US elections, candidates are elected individually. However, most recent elections track closely with each other in terms of partisan vote choice.
The reason this is relevant is in the past, there ...
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