In Custodia Legis: “Constitution Day is [September 17, 2019], but it’s already off to a great start with the release of the Congressional Research Service’s new version of The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, better known as the Constitution Annotated. The Constitution Annotated allows you to “read about the Constitution in… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Deepfakes Deserve Policymakers’ Attention, and Better Solutions
Center for Data Innovation: “Deepfakes—realistic-looking images and videos altered by AI to portray someone doing or saying something that never actually happened—have been around since the end of 2017, yet in recent months have become a major focus of policymakers. Though image and video manipulation have posed challenges for decades, the threat of deepfakes is… Continue Reading
How to Remove a Federal Judge and How to Impeach a President
Saikrishna Prakash & Steven D. Smith, How To Remove a Federal Judge, 116 Yale L.J. (2006). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylj/vol116/iss1/2 – “Most everyone assumes that impeachment is the only means of removing federal judges and that the Constitution’s grant of good-behavior tenure is an implicit reference to impeachment. This Article challenges that conventional wisdom. Using evidence… Continue Reading
Inversions in US Presidential Elections: 1836-2016
Inversions in US Presidential Elections: 1836-2016 – Michael Geruso, Dean Spears, Ishaana Talesara – NBER Working Paper No. 26247. Issued in September 2019. “Inversions—in which the popular vote winner loses the election—have occurred in 4 US Presidential elections. We show that rather than being statistical flukes, inversions have been ex ante likely since the 1800s.… Continue Reading
Trust and Distrust in America
Pew – Trust and Distrust in America – “Many Americans think declining trust in the government and in each other makes it harder to solve key problems. They have a wealth of ideas about what’s gone wrong and how to fix it. Trust is an essential elixir for public life and neighborly relations, and when… Continue Reading
Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2019
EveryCRSReport.com – Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2019, September 4, 2019 – “This report briefly describes current responsibilities and selection mechanisms for 15 House and Senate party leadership posts and provides tables with historical data, including service dates, party affiliation, and other information for each. Tables have been updated as of the report’s… Continue Reading
When It Comes to Voting, You Can’t Phone It In
Bloomberg – It might be more convenient to cast your ballot in a mobile app, but our democracy would lose something. “A lot of people are excited about recent research suggesting that mobile voting would mean more voters casting ballots. No doubt the premise is correct. If you lower the cost of an activity, you get more… Continue Reading
Disinformation and the 2020 Election: How Social Media Industry Should Prepare
NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights – The role of social media in a democracy. “In our fourth report on online disinformation, the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights explores risks to democracy and free speech posed by the expected spread of disinformation during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The report… Continue Reading
Republican senators just sent the US Supreme Court a strange letter
Quartz: “US senators are weighing in on a gun-rights case under review in the Supreme Court. Democrats filed an amicus brief that caused an uproar earlier this month and Republicans responded in a letter to the court this week. The missive, sent by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, reminds the justices that the judiciary is… Continue Reading
Facebook revises policies to clarify who buys political ads
UPI – “Facebook said [August 28, 2019] it’s changing company policies to add transparency and clarify exactly who pays for political advertisements that appear on its social platform. The company said it wants to avoid a repeat of the 2016 election, in which Russian actors spread disinformation and encouraged divisiveness online through targeted ads. “People… Continue Reading
The Emoluments Clauses of the US Constitution – updated CRS report
CRS Report updated August 23, 2019 – The Emoluments Clauses of the U.S. Constitution – “Recent litigation involving President Trump has raised a number of legal issues concerning formerly obscure constitutional provisions that prohibit the acceptance or receipt of “emoluments” in certain circumstances. This In Focus provides an overview of these constitutional provisions, highlighting several… Continue Reading
Just Security Launches the Russia Investigation Congressional Clearinghouse
“Today we launch the Russia Investigation Congressional Clearinghouse – a resource tool that seeks to provide, in one place, all congressional investigations materials related to Russia’s efforts to interfere in U.S. elections. We trust it will be a great resource for journalists, academics, and the broader Just Security readership. Bookmark the clearinghouse page to find… Continue Reading
