CRS Legal Sidebar – Constitutional Limits on States’ Power over Foreign Affairs, August 15, 2022 – “The Constitution gives the federal government the primary power to manage the United States’ foreign relations. Article I, Section 10 prohibits states from engaging in a set of activities that implicate international affairs, while the Supremacy Clause, Foreign Commerce… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Climate Liability Suits: Is There a Path to Federal Court?
CRS Legal Sidebar – Climate Liability Suits: Is There a Path to Federal Court? August 12, 2022: “Many of the most prominent court cases related to climate change in recent years have been decided by federal courts, including the Supreme Court, based on federal law. A growing number of cases,however, allege state-law claims against fossil… Continue Reading
Presidential Power to Declassify Information, Explained
The New York Times – “While it is legally irrelevant, former President Donald J. Trump claims he had declassified the top secret files the F.B.I. seized at his Florida residence. Former President Donald Trump’s claim that he had declassified all of the documents that the FBI seized in the search of his Florida home last… Continue Reading
Bipartisan Panelists Highlight “Desperate Need” to Counter Election Misinformation
“Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, held a roundtable with state officials and election experts to examine the effects of the unprecedented rise in election lies following the 2020 presidential election. Ahead of the roundtable, the Committee released new findings from the Committee’s investigation into the dire problem of… Continue Reading
Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
Suggested citation: Jenkins, J.D., Mayfield, E.N., Farbes, J., Jones, R., Patankar, N., Xu, Q., Schivley, G., “Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” REPEAT Project, Princeton, NJ, August 2022 “This report describes the national-scale energy system and greenhouse gas emissions impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as… Continue Reading
New Features and Updates to the Constitution Annotated Website
In Custodia Legis: “Written in “plain English“, The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, better known as the Constitution Annotated, has served as Congress’s Constitution of record for over one hundred years. A Senate document, the Constitution Annotated is prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and provides objective, authoritative, timely, and… Continue Reading
As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration With the Two-Party System
Pew Research Center Report – “Nearly half of younger adults say they ‘wish there were more parties to choose from’. Partisan polarization has long been a fact of political life in the United States. But increasingly, Republicans and Democrats view not just the opposing party but also the people in that party in a negative… Continue Reading
Feds’ pay lags 22.5% behind private sector
Federal News Network – “Salaries for federal employees fall significantly behind the private sector, the Federal Salary Council reported [August 5, 2022]. The council reported the pay disparity between public and private sector employees, on average, was 22.47%. In late 2020, the council calculated the pay gap at 23.11%. The pay disparity is calculated based… Continue Reading
A Century of Business in the Supreme Court, 1920-2020
Epstein, Lee and Gulati, Mitu, A Century of Business in the Supreme Court, 1920-2020 (August 3, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4178504&stream=top “A decade and a half into its life, we ask: How pro business is the Roberts Court? Using a simple objective measure – how often does business win in the Court when it is… Continue Reading
DOJ is suing to make sure women who need medically necessary abortions can actually get them
Vox: “A month after the Supreme Court’s decision overruling Roe v. Wade, it’s unclear whether many patients with dangerous pregnancies can receive medically necessary abortions. Some women have traveled to other states for lifesaving care because doctors in their home state feared prosecution. Others were left to bleed by their health care providers who feared… Continue Reading
Celebrating over 3,000 Historical and Contemporary Legal Reports Now Online
In Custodia Legis: “For more than eighty years, the Law Library of Congress has been engaged in the preparation of research reports on legal topics, with an emphasis on foreign, comparative, and international law, in response to requests from Congress, the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, and others. The Law Library has… Continue Reading
Open-source flight trackers have been repeatedly used to break news over the last few weeks
Vice: “More than 700,000 people were tracking the flight path of the U.S. military plane believed to be carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this morning. She touched down in Taiwan at 10:50 pm local time, making Pelosi the first high-ranking American official to visit the self-governing island in 25 years, amid threats of a military… Continue Reading
