House Cmte. on the Judiciary – The Federal Judiciary in the 21st Century: Ensuring the Public’s Right of Access to the Courts – September 26, 2019 – Documents Witness List A statement from Judge Steve Leben, Kansas Court of Appeals A letter from Judge Bridget Mary McCormack, Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court A letter from… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Brace Yourself for the Internet Impeachment
The New York Times: “The last time America watched an impeachment inquiry, it was largely an analog affair. When the House voted to begin impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton in 1998, only one in four American homes had internet access. AOL and Yahoo were the biggest websites in the world, and “tweet” was a sound… Continue Reading
How Congress turns citizens’ voices into data points
Via LLRX – How Congress turns citizens’ voices into data points – Samantha McDonald, University of California, Irvine focuses our attention on an increasingly critical issue – big technology companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google aren’t the only ones facing huge political concerns about using citizen data: So is Congress. Reports by congressional researchers over… Continue Reading
PACER Court Records ‘Can Never Be Free,’ Judge Says
House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing held September 26, 2019 – The Federal Judiciary in the 21st Century: Ensuring the Public’s Right of Access to the Courts – Statement by The Honorable Audrey G. Fleissig</a, >U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Missouri “…Based on the experiences of California and the FBI, upgrading the current Judiciary… Continue Reading
Congress releases whistleblower complaint alleging Trump abused his office
The New York Times – “After hearing that President Trump tried to persuade Ukraine to investigate a 2020 campaign rival, senior officials at the White House scrambled to “lock down” records of the call, a whistle-blower alleged in an explosive complaint released Thursday. In an attempt to “lock down” all records of the call, in… Continue Reading
How an Impeachment Process Inquiry Works
The New York Times – The inquiry into President Trump has the potential to reshape his presidency. Here’s how impeachment works. “…The Constitution permits Congress to remove presidents before their term is up if enough lawmakers vote to say that they committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”Only two presidents have been impeached… Continue Reading
How The Democratic Groundswell For Impeachment Happened
FiveThirtyEight: “On Tuesday afternoon [September 24, 2019], House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her plans to open an official impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Although she and others in House leadership positions have resisted opening formal impeachment proceedings for months, a deluge of new calls from more moderate members of her party may have cemented her… Continue Reading
U.S. Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress
CRS Report via FAS – U.S. Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress, updated September 23, 2019: “The U.S. role in the world refers to the overall character, purpose, or direction of U.S. participation in international affairs and the country’s overall relationship to the rest of the world. The U.S. role in the… Continue Reading
Ways and Means Committee Releases Report on International Drug Pricing
“Today, the Ways and Means Committee released a report, titled “A Painful Pill to Swallow: U.S. vs. International Prescription Drug Prices,” finding that U.S. drug prices are nearly four times higher than the combined average of 11 other similar countries, and that Americans pay as much as 67 times more than consumers in other nations… Continue Reading
The Language of Congress – What topics do members of Congress tweet about most frequently?
The Pudding – “We fed thousands of Congressional tweets to a machine learning algorithm in order to recognize political issues. We’ll keep doing this every day of the 116th congress, from January 3 2019 through January 3, 2021. These are the topics that dominate members of Congress’ public discourse—the issues they discuss (and don’t discuss).… Continue Reading
Why Americans Don’t Fully Trust Many Who Hold Positions of Power and Responsibility
Members of Congress and technology leaders are rated lower in empathy, transparency and ethics – “Public gives higher scores to military leaders, public school principals and police officers…” “People invest their trust in institutions and those who have power for a variety of reasons. Researchers have found that people’s confidence in others and organizations can… Continue Reading
Bipartisan Report Shows Recent Government Shutdowns Cost Taxpayers Nearly $4 Billion, 56,938 Years of Lost Productivity
“U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tom Carper (D-DE), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), today unveiled a new bipartisan report that documents the cost to American taxpayers of the last three government shutdowns and the impacts they had on the economy and core government functions. The largest direct… Continue Reading
