Congress

March 29, 2019|Congress, executive branch, Federalist 51, James Madison, Veto

How to Rebalance Power Between Congress and the Executive Branch

U.S. Capitol (Tono Balaguer/Shutterstock.com)

Congress faces an inherent collective action problem relative to the President, one that means legislators underinvest in the institution itself.

February 26, 2019|Civic Virtue, Congress, George Washington, Separation of Powers, Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Will Not Save Us

by Corbin Barthold|17 Comments

Statue of George Washington at Federal Hall, New York, New York (Becca Eley / Shutterstock.com).

We, however, are determined to learn whether responsible and disciplined—in a word, constitutional—government can survive the death of civic piety.

February 18, 2019|Abraham Lincoln, Congress, Donald Trump, Executive Power, National Emergencies Act, Separation of Powers, Thomas Jefferson

Government by Emergency: Are Two Generations of Crisis Enough?

by Greg Weiner|3 Comments

shutterstock.com

The oldest emergency proclamation dates to the Carter Administration, 40 years ago. Two generations of crisis are enough.

February 18, 2019|Congress, Executive Power, INS v. Chadha, National Emergencies Act

The President’s Emergency Declaration Is the Congressional Check on Presidential Power

by James R. Rogers|3 Comments

President Donald Trump at a press conference in New York, New York on September 26, 2018 (Evan El-Amin/Shutterstock.com).

President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency is the check on executive prerogative, not the exercise of it.

January 29, 2019|Bill Clinton, Congress, Constitution, Donald Trump, institutional power, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich, Presidency

James Madison Won the Shutdown

by Greg Weiner|9 Comments

U.S. Capitol (Tono Balaguer/Shutterstock.com)

Partisan disputes come and go, but the encouraging development was institutional: the House of Representatives stared down the presidency and won.

January 10, 2019|Border Wall, Congress, National Emergencies Act, Nondelegation doctrine, President Trump

The Emergency Is Outcome-Based Constitutionalism

by Greg Weiner|16 Comments

A government with distributed authority has restrictions on its powers.

January 9, 2019|conflict, Congress, Joanne Freeman, Legislation, violence

Congress Has Forgotten How to Fight

by James Wallner|11 Comments

"Argument of the Chivalry," a depiction of Preston Brooks caning Charles Sumner. Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Joanne Freeman has written a brilliant book, but she misses something crucial: a collapse of political space, not acts of violence, caused the Civil War.

October 3, 2018|Congress, Elections, lame duck

Lame Ducks and Congressional Accountability

by James Wallner|3 Comments

The U.S. Capital at night (Anujak Jaimook / Shutterstock.com)

Instead of returning to the Capitol Hill after the people vote, members should complete their work before the election.

September 12, 2018|Administrative State, Ben Sasse, Congress, judicial confirmation

What Ben Sasse Got Right and Wrong at the Kavanaugh Hearings

by James R. Rogers|10 Comments

Senators Amy Klobachar (D-M.N.) and Ben Sasse (R-N.E.) speak during the confirmation hearing of Judge Brett Kavanaugh before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, September 4, 2018 (Credit: Alex Edelman / ZUMA Wire / Alamy Live News).

It is a good thing a U.S. Senator raised the delegation issue in a high-visibility venue, but it should have a hearing of its own.

May 14, 2018|Congress, Filibuster, Senate

An Impotent Congress

by James Wallner|8 Comments

Capitol Hill, Washington DC

Instead of a deliberative process in which Senate members put forward competing ideas, party leaders stage-manage a rigged debate.

What Does the Word “Liberal” Mean?

by Nathan W. Schlueter

Helena Rosenblatt presents a Continentalized (which is to say incomplete) definition of liberalism.

Structural Realism Has No Clothes

by Paul D. Miller

What is remarkable is that, despite decades of scholarship and change, today’s structural realists have revised or changed almost none of their views.

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