188
votes
Accepted
Why does the pardon of Arpaio show contempt for the rule of law?
tl;dr: Arpaio was sentenced for violating a court order, which ordered him to stop violating the law. In this case, a presidential pardon takes away any recourse the judiciary has, thus circumventing ...
- 36k
85
votes
Accepted
Can members of the US Congress lie during debate without penalty?
Generally speaking, anything that a member of Congress says during a speech or debate in Congress is protected by the U.S. Constitution from lawsuits and criminal prosecution.
This immunity is ...
- 10.4k
50
votes
Why does the pardon of Arpaio show contempt for the rule of law?
First, while nobody doubts that the act is lawful, the right to pardon is controversial by itself. It is a power by which the executive "breaks" the separation of powers and changes a decision coming ...
- 31.2k
35
votes
Accepted
Are there any offices in the USA that require loyalty to the President?
The constitution of the united states is the ultimate law of the land, not the presidency. Therefore there is no such office that is shielded from the law due to loyalty to the presidency.
This is ...
35
votes
Accepted
Appeal process for being designated a "Terrorist Group" (Canada)
The appeals process is set out in part 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (2001), which amended the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act and implemented the list. In simple terms, the process is that a ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
26
votes
Accepted
Has the UK prosecuted or attempted to prosecute individuals other than Assange for jumping bail?
Yes.
This article on the BBC from 2016 states that 13000 Arrest warrants are outstanding, on people who have jumped bail, or as in the words of the article
Figures obtained by the BBC show more than ...
- 23.9k
24
votes
Can I sue the government for not enforcing criminal laws?
The short answer is that no, you almost certainly cannot sue.
This is for a large number of reasons. First, both the State and Federal governments have sovereign immunity, according to the Supreme ...
- 10.3k
17
votes
Why do some human rights organizations oppose elections?
Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads:
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
...
- 74.8k
15
votes
Can members of the US Congress lie during debate without penalty?
Upvote to Michael_B. I was going to say some similar things but I freely admit I didn't have all those citations handy. Kudos.
But let me add one thing: Why the principle of not punishing congressmen ...
- 860
11
votes
Was it clear in advance that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky would try to make the Jewish Rosh Hashanah a public holiday in Ukraine?
First part of the question: Zelensky did not make Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year's day) a public holiday or bank holiday in Ukraine.
The New Orthodox Times (an English language publication ...
- 481
10
votes
Appeal process for being designated a "Terrorist Group" (Canada)
As with any other question of this sort, there are only three avenues for overturning this type of decision:
Political: Create public pressure through protests, media coverage, etc. to encourage the ...
- 67.7k
9
votes
Why does the pardon of Arpaio show contempt for the rule of law?
On "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" on September 10, 2017, his main story was about Joe Arpaio. He mostly spoke about Arpaio's history, but it was of course bookended by discussion of Trump's ...
- 9,266
9
votes
Accepted
Why is the US still in a state of emergency?
The President is given more powers when a state of emergency is declared as described in this article by USA Today.
President Obama has extended Bush's Proclamation 7463 for the 16th consecutive year,...
- 46.5k
9
votes
Accepted
How can the Judicial Branch enforce its orders?
Legal Authority
The All Writs Act is part of the statutory authorization for the civil contempt power as is 28 U.S.C. § 1826 (regarding compelling testimony from recalcitrant witnesses) and governing ...
- 73.4k
8
votes
Accepted
Is it typical for someone to be arrested over $20k violation of campaign finance laws?
There may be some reason to think that charges like this are unusual. David Mason, a former FEC commissioner, noted
I don't know why or how his case even came to the prosecutor's
attention, ...
- 1,113
7
votes
Accepted
Has the UK spent millions of pounds to track a fugitive other than Assange?
Has the UK spent millions of pounds to track a fugitive other than Assange?
Lets remind ourselves of the timeline
August 2010 - Assange visits Sweden, two women report rape. After being questioned, ...
- 9,051
7
votes
Accepted
How democratic was Venezuela when Hugo Chavez was elected?
Voter turnout in Venezuela's 1998 presidential election was 63%, which is mildly-moderately higher than the United States (50.3% in 2000, 55.7% in 2004, 58.2% in 2008, 54.9% in 2012, an estimated 55.5%...
- 4,899
7
votes
How to deal with politicians claiming to have forgotten incriminating facts or their own actions
How would it be possible to [...] hold politicians somewhat accountable
There are two standards of accountability.
The first one is the legal. If the they need to be held accountable for something ...
- 31.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Can political protests have a significant impact immediately after the general elections?
While anything is possible, if the ruling party feels secure enough to pass such a blatantly corrupt law then the protest on its own will probably not deter them. While plotting on how to pass a law ...
- 6,570
6
votes
Accepted
Why aren't constitutional duties legally binding in India?
The Fundamental Duties were added in the 42nd Amendment (1976), which doesn't explain why they were added or why they weren't made legally binding:
It is also proposed to specify
the fundamental ...
- 178
6
votes
Can members of the US Congress lie during debate without penalty?
The relevant House can make its own rules about the conduct of its members and the discipline it imposes on them. The House of Representatives has three levels of punishment: expulsion, censure, and ...
- 3,604
5
votes
Accepted
Have any jurisdictions made a large number of prosecutions for FGM?
According to various (somewhat inconsistent) sources, since the 1980s, there have been about one hundred people found guilty of a crime in relation with feminine genital mutilations in France, see 1 ...
- 30.5k
5
votes
A country seeks help from EU
First I would separate the issue of upgrade/modify/modernize its state laws from the others. Changing laws is mainly a political problem, not a technical one (there is a part of it that is technical, ...
- 31.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Can a state judge throw the U.S. President in jail for contempt of court?
Clinton v Jones established that a sitting US President does not have immunity from civil law suits in a Federal court.
However, the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution prohibits states from ...
- 6,938
5
votes
What could have been the intended purpose of Section 10(2) of the criminal law act 1977?
This clause is about squatting. Merlyn Rees described it at its second reading in the Commons:
Clause 7 [and subsequent clauses]—I come now to squatting—is chiefly directed at a squatter who moves ...
- 115k
4
votes
Why aren't constitutional duties legally binding in India?
As Gaurav mentioned, the Fundamental Duties were added as a part of the 42nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution (1976), which is often considered to be the most painful relic of the Emergency era.
...
- 269
4
votes
Accepted
What are the most important fundamental problems with World Federalism?
The first big issue is that not all of the nations of the world have a rich history of democratic understanding or due process or equal treatment under the law. Make a system too loose and you get ...
- 16.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible