New answers tagged congress
4
Can a US state bar a formerly incarcerated felon from being a member of congress?
No, the qualifications for members of Congress are set in the Constitution.
Status of a Member of the House Who Has Been Indicted for or Convicted of a Felony, May 8, 2014.
Service in Congress: Qualifications for Holding Office
Indictment and/or conviction of a crime that is ...
12
The existing answers are good, but I think they miss one element of why the Senate performs this function and not the House:
Senators were originally appointed by state governments. The scope of federal law was originally quite slight, and a substantial amount of federal court business was naturally anticipated to deal with disputes between states. Having ...
22
The framers didn't trust democracy or the people (at the federal level)
A shocking sentiment to many, perhaps, but a fact nonetheless. They often saw direct democracy on any given matter as either too onerous a burden on the people (believing they should put in great diligence to exercise the power wisely, but fearing they wouldn't due to lack of time and ...
50
The founders had two models in particularly in mind: the Ancient Roman Senate, and the UK parliament of Monarch/Lords/Commons.
In the UK, the House of Lords functioned as a Supreme Court. The founders wanted to separate the powers of the court from the Upper house, but they still wanted the upper house to have a role in approving justices.
The expectation ...
4
So, as William has mentioned, the fact that the Senate's consent is required in court appointments is established in the U. S. Constitution, Article II, section 2:
He [the President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with ...
-1
This is because of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution:
... and [the President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and ...
2
Progressive candidates tend to win mostly in safe left leaning districts because voters in those districts are more progressive themselves, and because the conventional wisdom among political party operatives is that moderate candidates have a better chance of winning a swing district than progressive candidates.
Safe left leaning districts tend to also be &...
4
The Senate.gov website publishes XML data for roll call votes going back to the 101st Congress in 1989 (example), and the House.gov website also publishes the results of roll call votes going back to 1990 (example). By looking at the vote totals for each roll call vote which includes a reference to a bill being passed, we can get a fairly decent list of ...
2
What I am interested in is if there are any tangible proposals for the establishment of a new modern war powers system in the U.S.?
The following excerpt from a Congressional Research Service report identifies several proposed amendments to the War Powers Resolution. These are shown as an emboldened list. The text of the proposals is not shown for brevity.
...
15
Most of the attention has been focused on how small McConnell’s “Skinny Stimulus” is, relative to the bill the Democrats passed through the House back in May, but the core problem with the bill are the massive liability protections for corporations and health care providers. CNN provided a summary of the bill, and a comparison between this bill, the previous ...
12
Why can't they pass the Republican bill and if turns out not to be enough pass another bill?
Multiple reasons, all of them political.
Large among them is the loss of leverage already described in other answers. If the Democrats cooperate in passing something containing most or all of what the Republicans want, even if the D's want many of those same things,...
119
What makes you think they could simply "pass another one later"? They've already tried that and failed. They wanted a 4th piece of relief legislation back when both chambers quickly passed three pieces, and have passed more since (and tons of other non-covid bills as well). But the Senate basically acted like it (and all that other stuff) never ...
7
What pieces of U.S. legislation passed with a supermajority in both
houses of Congress without being vetoed?
Actually, most of the legislation passed by Congress passes unanimously or with supermajority support.
While legislation upon which there are partisan divides is notable and attracts the most media attention, a huge share of all legislation is passed ...
3
The best example I'm aware of was in 2002, when redistricting in Michigan following the 2000 Census caused Rep. Lynn N. Rivers to lose her 13th district. The majority of its area was merged into the neighboring district, represented by fellow Democrat John Dingell, a Michigan representative for almost 50 years. Rivers challenged Dingell in the primary for ...
6
End Qualified Immunity
Qualified Immunity is a Federal policy created by the Supreme Court that gives police some shielding against lawsuits stemming from their actions. The problem is courts tend to rule it applies where no police or municipality has been warned before, even if it should be obvious their actions are not legal
Qualified immunity has led to ...
2
The police forces of the United States comprise a hodgepodge of agencies under various authorities. Aside from the federal agencies (e.g. the FBI) and the various state police forces, there are police forces associated with towns, counties, cities, and other areas. The standards of training, professionalism, and policy vary widely across those diverse ...
5
Some answers here suggest that the federal government could influence the behavior of individual police officers indirectly by pulling the purse strings of the police officers’ employers. Perhaps so, but a more direct approach has worked to right other wrongs.
There are many federal laws that seek to directly influence the behavior and practices of local ...
7
Consent Decrees
When a PD is alleged to have violated a citizen's civil rights, the federal government may intervene via the DoJ Civil Rights Division. If the DoJ finds the PD in violation, it may sue the PD. Instead of litigating a costly court battle and possibly losing the confidence of their city, many PDs enter into a consent decree to avoid admitting ...
29
The federal government could end the practice of -- or put conditions on -- selling surplus military equipment to local police agencies: The Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) or LESO Program... allows transfer of excess Department of Defense property (equipment) that might otherwise be destroyed to law enforcement agencies across the United States and ...
45
How much influence can the federal executive and legislature have on the way in which local policing is done in the USA?
The federal government can influence state and local police agencies in the same way that the federal government influences state and local governments in other regards: Threaten to stop supplying the monies the federal government ...
Top 50 recent answers are included
