93
votes
Was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rejection of Republican representatives Jordan and Banks "unprecedented"?
According to House practices, a select committee is a committee whose members are appointed (selected) by the Speaker. Conventionally the Speaker will receive recommendations from the minority leader ...
- 73.6k
63
votes
Accepted
Was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rejection of Republican representatives Jordan and Banks "unprecedented"?
Minority Leader McCarthy may have intended calling this action "unprecedented" as an attack, but Pelosi acknowledged that herself in her official statement:
“With respect for the integrity ...
- 26k
47
votes
Accepted
First day a 2022 US congress could vote to shut down Jan 6th commission? How quickly after could the commission be effectively curtailed or shut down?
Firstly, the Jan 6th Commission was never created in the first place. It failed to pass the Senate due to a Republican filibuster, leading to the creation of the House Select Committee to Investigate ...
CDJB♦
- 108k
43
votes
Accepted
What does Nicholas Watt mean that May has “enough tellers for her Brexit vote”?
From Parliament's website.
Four tellers are required for a division to take place: two representing those voting for the motion and two representing those voting against. Two tellers - one from each ...
- 25k
40
votes
Why does John Bercow say “unlock” after reading out the results of a vote?
If you follow the evening votes on any live stream, you'll notice that Bercow has the voting lobbies locked 8 minutes after putting the question.
Here's an excellent outline of how the UK parliament's ...
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37
votes
Accepted
How might Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the UK House of Commons "play hardball"?
The Speaker can grant ‘urgent questions’ to MPs on a subject - a mechanism which forces the relevant Government minister to appear in the House of Commons to respond to said question. As the ...
CDJB♦
- 108k
36
votes
Why would voting for a US House Speaker candidate from a majority party be "taboo" and punishable if you're a member of a minority party?
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." -- Napoleon Bonaparte (attributed)
I think that's the basic mantra here: if the opposing party is having a leadership crisis, don't ...
- 16.6k
33
votes
"motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table" & "Madam president... I note the absence of a quorum" What do these mean? Why funny?
To "lay [a measure] upon the table" (or to "table a motion") means to set it aside from debate or consideration in the present moment. Sometimes to be taken up later, other times ...
- 19.3k
30
votes
Does the US require a House vote to begin an impeachment inquiry?
Another answer claims that the current situation is unprecedented, which does seem to be true. Regardless of that, the investigation does seem to be authorized by the House Rules.
Each committee ...
- 18.4k
27
votes
Accepted
Does the US require a House vote to begin an impeachment inquiry?
Some answers look at whether there is a historical precedent. That is irrelevant. The question is what is required and what is not. There is no current requirement that a resolution be voted on by ...
- 21k
25
votes
Accepted
How would the Crown change New Zealand's name to Aotearoa in order to help restore the status the Māori language?
The Crown-in-Parliament would legislate to the effect that the name of the country would be Aotearoa as of some date. This would be the typical New Zealand parliamentary process as for other laws:
A ...
- 593
23
votes
House of Commons clarification on clapping
You're absolutely correct that by convention, applause is discouraged in the House of Commons (and indeed, the Lords). Erskine May, the guide to parliamentary practice, has this to say on the subject:
...
CDJB♦
- 108k
21
votes
Accepted
Does US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts have recusal power over another Justice if they don't do it themself? (e.g. Clarence Thomas)
No.
Recusal as such is an action a judge can only apply to themselves. There may be rules, or requests made by others, recommending or demanding their recusal. But the very meaning of the word "...
- 9,620
21
votes
"motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table" & "Madam president... I note the absence of a quorum" What do these mean? Why funny?
To further explain the "motion to reconsider" verbiage, here's rule XIII.1 of the Senate Rules:
When a question has been decided by the Senate, any Senator voting with the prevailing side ...
- 9,443
21
votes
Accepted
What does "Boris Johnson has a hundred and sixty MPs on his payroll anyway who were going to vote for him because they're within the government" mean?
The "payroll" refers to MPs who hold roles in the government, i.e. government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries (PPS), whips or in some way dependent on the PM's patronage. These ...
- 46.7k
20
votes
Why did members who wanted to raise a point of order during a division have to wear a top hat while talking in the House of Commons in the UK?
Some Traditions and Customs of the House from the House of Commons Information Office.
To increase their appearance during debates and to be seen more easily, a Member wishing to raise a point of ...
- 36k
20
votes
Origin & purpose of the "magic minute" floor speech in the US House and why would Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries use one to delay the vote by an hour?
I'm not sure of the exact origin of the practice (or of the term), but essentially the "magic minute" allows party leaders in the House to speak as much as they want.
The magic minute, or ...
19
votes
Accepted
What are the motivations of holding closed-door negotiations or talks?
Closed door negotiations allow politicians to speak freely to each other without having to consider the inner-political consequences of every word they say. When negotiations are public, then there is ...
- 78.2k
18
votes
Accepted
What European countries have secret voting within the Legislature?
The EU parliament itself seems to have a procedure to use secret ballots in some cases:
Normally MEPs vote by show of hands, and the President of the sitting determines the majorities in each case. ...
- 30.8k
17
votes
Could opposition parties in the Netherlands form a coalition against Geert Wilders?
Yes, there is no limit to the number of parties which work together to form a coalition government in the Netherlands. The fourth Rutte Cabinet before the 2023 election consisted of four parties. ...
- 1,954
16
votes
"motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table" & "Madam president... I note the absence of a quorum" What do these mean? Why funny?
The existing answers describe quorum calls in theory, but that's not how they generally work in the US Senate in practice (and not how it worked in the clip you asked about). The Senate uses quorum ...
- 14.4k
15
votes
Why is there such a long delay before putting the "Meaningful Vote" to the British Parliament
Hypothesis: Brexit is a "meatgrinder"
The reason why people are unable to make sense of Brexit is that they keep thinking of it either in very concrete terms ("how is cross channel freight going to ...
- 22.2k
15
votes
What are the motivations of holding closed-door negotiations or talks?
Closed-door negotiations of international agreements are not unusual - for example trade treaties such as TPP were negotiated in secret.
The nominal reason given is that a better agreement could be ...
- 4,564
14
votes
Why does expelled former American congressperson, George Santos, still have access to the United States of America's Congressional House floor?
While George Santos is currently allowed on the House floor, if found guilty of charges related to the election that privilege will be revoked.
Rules of the House, 118th Congress
RULE IV
The Hall of ...
- 36k
13
votes
Did past presidential impeachment inquiries have basic defendant's rights?
No. Mr Cippollone's letter is being laughed at as ridiculous by legal experts.
Wow. This letter is bananas. A barely-lawyered temper tantrum. A middle finger to Congress and its oversight ...
- 21k
12
votes
Accepted
Did past presidential impeachment inquiries have basic defendant's rights?
ABA Journal (which tries to be pretty neutral politically) has some coverage of this in their news section; it's telling that they cited no experts siding with Trump, except for his lawyers, instead:
...
12
votes
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Why are there so few polling sites in New York?
What then is the reason that there are so few polling sites in New York?
Budget: there are 1107 election-day polling sites, and the cost of keeping them all open for a week and a half would not be ...
- 18.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Could opposition parties in the Netherlands form a coalition against Geert Wilders?
According to Euronews, typically the "shaper" has been someone (I guess most common the leader) of the party that won the largest number of seats. So, making a coalition starting with a ...
11
votes
Why is abstaining so common in the UN General Assembly?
You should note that the votes in UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) on such political issues are nothing but symbolic and aren't always binding. In other words, they mean just political ...
- 1,806
11
votes
Why would voting for a US House Speaker candidate from a majority party be "taboo" and punishable if you're a member of a minority party?
The answer from zibadawa timmy provides a good explanation for general cases. However, the example cited in the block quote (James Traficant) has some special circumstances that deserve mention, ...
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