114
votes
Why is there no process in the United States to remove and re-elect the President?
One of the main reasons was that the President - even now, never mind in Founding Fathers' time - is not the "head of government", the way Prime Ministers are in Parliamentary systems.
The President ...
- 93.3k
111
votes
Accepted
What does Kanye (Ye) West actually mean by "Abolish the 13th Amendment"?
He seems to have meant amending it (quote below) to remove the clause permitting slavery and forced labour as punishment for a crime.
So let us ask this possibly dicey question: What, exactly, was ...
- 21.2k
92
votes
Can a US President declare a "State of Emergency"?
The USA is in a state of emergency, and has been since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. The state of emergency was declared by former President G. W. Bush:
Proclamation 7463—Declaration of ...
- 700
86
votes
Accepted
Does this argument against healthcare as a right not apply to a "speedy and public trial"?
One difference is that the trial (and, behind it, criminal prosecution and legal punishment) is something the state is organising for its own purpose in the first place. The right to a speedy trial is ...
- 32k
84
votes
Accepted
What is the political reason for the U.S. House to adopt a resolution that essentially reaffirms the Constitution?
My naive understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that the
Constitution is already the supreme law and nothing can be above it,
nor Congress Resolutions. If anyone acts against the Constitution, it
...
- 88.3k
84
votes
Accepted
Why does the government not introduce an amendment to the constitution to allow abortion?
Because it likely wouldn't get passed.
In order for a Constitutional amendment to be passed, it currently needs 38 state legislatures to support it. For practical purposes, it also needs ...
- 25.5k
83
votes
Does the Constitution allow a woman to be President of the United States?
Male pronouns can be found all over the constitution.
I look at Article I, Section 3:
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a ...
- 28k
77
votes
Accepted
A new proposal suggests subdividing Washington D.C. into 127 new states so that they can change the Constitution at will. Is this possible?
It looks to me as if the Harvard Law Review is engaging in a rather laboured joke, in the spirit of Swift's A Modest Proposal.
To be more precise, it seems to be a satire on the temptation to change ...
- 10.9k
70
votes
Accepted
Is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact constitutional?
The Interstate State Compact, if it ever was implemented by states representing 270 or more electors would almost certainly be tested in court. Until it is tested in the Supreme Court, nobody can ...
- 124k
69
votes
Why are separate bathrooms for men and women not in violation of the rejection of "separate but equal"?
The constitution does not say anything about 'separate but equal', for or against, directly. So the easy answer is that separate bathrooms are not a violation because you can't violate something that ...
- 9,573
61
votes
Accepted
Did any of the founding fathers anticipate Lysander Spooner's criticism of the constitution?
Benjamin Franklin seems to have anticipated Spooner's argument. When asked what he and his associates had created, Franklin replied,
A republic, madam, if you can keep it.
The point being that in ...
- 1,605
61
votes
Does the Constitution allow a woman to be President of the United States?
A definitive interpretation of the constitution can only come from the Supreme Court in the US. The court has not ruled on this. However Supreme court justicies have given their interpretation of the ...
- 124k
57
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Barack Obama try to force the Senate to hold hearings on SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland?
In short: separation of (coequal) powers means the President can't order any such thing of Congress. Congress does as it wills, and the constitution has very little to say about whether it does its ...
- 16.9k
52
votes
Why didn't Barack Obama try to force the Senate to hold hearings on SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland?
It's worth noting that Obama actually did attempt an end-run around Congress in declaring that pro-forma Senate sessions were, in fact, a "recess" as defined by the Constitution. As such, he made some ...
- 53.1k
51
votes
Accepted
Can the Supreme Court overturn an impeachment?
In Walter L. Nixon v. United States (unrelated to President Richard Nixon), the court held that the judiciary could not review impeachment proceedings. According to the constitution, the House has the ...
- 1,828
51
votes
Accepted
Can the President of the US limit First Amendment rights?
The reason this isn't a loophole is that The President doesn't have the power to make laws at all, only Congress can do that. Thanks to the vast expansion in the power of the Executive branch in ...
- 26k
51
votes
Accepted
If the US Senate votes to not pass a bill, can the House of Representatives overrule that vote?
No, the House of Representatives does not have the power to overrule a Senate veto. Article I, Section 7 is quite clear that a bill needs to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate in ...
- 28k
51
votes
In what way do "Pennsylvanians have a constitutional right to clean air and pure water"? State constitution or federal? Which article?
Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution is a declaration of rights, among which are the "right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic ...
- 10.9k
50
votes
What mechanisms exist for terminating the US constitution?
The US constitution — like all national constitutions, to my knowledge — is considered a foundational document. It may be amended by Congress (subject to judicial review) or through a new ...
- 76.4k
48
votes
Accepted
In the US, what is the role of and relationship between federal law and state law?
Division of Powers Between State and Federal Governments
There are some powers that are reserved solely to the federal government, some that can only be exercised locally or by the states, and yet ...
- 8,588
46
votes
Accepted
Why was Congress able to create an Air Force without a constitutional amendment?
In a dissent in the case of Laird v. Tatum, Justice William Douglas argued tangentially that the creation of an air force is legal as per Article of 1, Section 8 of the Constitution:
The Army, Navy,...
- 1,854
46
votes
Why is there no process in the United States to remove and re-elect the President?
@User4012 makes some good arguments, I'll add a few.
The Founders greatly underestimated the relative power of the Congress and the President and expected that the Congress would turn out to be the ...
- 88.3k
45
votes
Accepted
Could the second amendment be, well, amended?
Yes, the constitution can be amended. In fact the second amendment is just that: an amendment. You can continue to add new amendments, even on existing amendments.
This has actually already happened....
45
votes
Accepted
Are the strikes against Yemen ordered by President Biden unconstitutional?
Is the military response to Yemen opted by President Biden without
conferring with congress unconstitutional
This argument has been made almost every time the U.S. has used military force without a ...
- 88.3k
44
votes
DeSantis' "US Constitution’s 'leverage points'... to exercise the 'true scope' of presidential power"; something new or based on existing theories?
DeSantis isn't expressing any particularly new idea here, nor is there any actual political theory behind this. He's offering a 'total war' conception of politics — effectively an anti-idealistic ...
- 76.4k
43
votes
Does this argument against healthcare as a right not apply to a "speedy and public trial"?
The right to a speedy trial just means that the prosecutor may not delay the trial unreasonably. The prosecutor is not actually required to provide a trial. The trial is a requirement to keep the ...
- 90.3k
42
votes
What kind of amendment can oblige multiple political parties, and repair the unintended two-party malfunction of the constitution?
A false premise
What kind of amendment clause can encourage many parties to represent
the voters in the way originally intended by the founding fathers?
The Founding Fathers intended the ...
- 88.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible