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Well, this makes sense-if we make it nearly impossible for felons to regain their right to vote, they’ll surely want to regain their right to fire weapons instead.
Archive for the ‘Constitutional politics’ Category
November 16th, 2011
Category: Constitutional politics, Crime Control, Feeling Safer Yet?, Firearms, Law Notes, Vote Casting and Counting
November 15th, 2011
Libertarians and conservatives have become fond of calling the individual mandate totalitarian-or at least a gross and unconscionable deprivation of individual liberty. But if so, why are they so comfortable with the prospect of courts finding it unconstitutional only when the *federal* government imposes it?
August 15th, 2011
(Cross-posted at the Century Foundation’s Taking Note) Matt Yglesias and Ezra Klein both review Texas Governor Rick Perry’s book, Fed Up! Our fight to save America from Washington. Matt notes what he calls “The ten weirdest ideas” in that book. Many of Perry’s ideas are, indeed, weird, such as the claim that Al Gore is [...]
July 28th, 2011
One can argue, of course, that the President does not have the power under the 14th Amendment to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling. But recently I’ve been seeing an argument to this effect that really makes no sense. Section 5 of the 14th Amendment says that “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate [...]
July 7th, 2011
Someone should ask John Boehner what comes next.
July 6th, 2011
I realize that this might come as a shock to RBC readers, but sometimes Congress passes statutes that conflict with each other. What do courts do when faced these problems? And what does it have to do with the debt ceiling? Well, consider this problem. Congress passes a debt ceiling bill. Then it passes a [...]
July 5th, 2011
When Michael McConnell speaks on constitutional law, people listen, as well they should. And he says that the argument that the President can unilaterally issue new debt is “bunk,” for basically the same reason that Andrew Grossman said a few days ago: only Congress has that power. That in and of itself is arguable, but [...]
July 4th, 2011
Category: Constitutional politics, Law Notes
Calls are growing from President Obama simply to tell Congress to stuff it when it comes to the debt ceiling. Section 4 of the 14th Amendment says quite clearly that the “Public debt of the United States, authorized by law . . . shall not be questioned.” At the very least that would mean that [...]
April 4th, 2011
I disagree with both my fellow bloggers. The root cause of deficits isn’t either national character or Republican perfidy. It’s the logic of social choice in a system of separated powers.
