Kavanaugh nominated to protect Trump? What some senators are getting wrong.
Image source: WSJ By Anthony Marcum Within minutes of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, opponents were quick to highlight a 2009 article written by Kavanaugh for the Minnesota Law… Read More
Library plan to publish CRS reports falls short of the law, and is unduly expensive
By Daniel Schuman, Kevin Kosar, and Josh Tauberer Civil society, students, librarians, and the general public were elated when Congress decided to make the non-confidential non-partisan reports issued by… Read More
Are courtesy meetings nuked?
Image source: National Review By Mark Owens Process and procedure have begun to dominate debates about controversial or salient nominations to the federal bench. Frustration emerged when the regular procedures… Read More
Sen. Flake has options to force a vote
Jeff Flake wants to force Senate action on President Trump’s tariffs by delaying the confirmation process for judicial nominees. But the gambit already appears to have fallen short. According… Read More
The discharge petition doesn’t have to be dead
The immigration discharge petition died last week. Essentially, leaders killed the discharge effort by pulling the underlying bill (H.R. 4760) to the floor. That meant that even though the… Read More
ICYMI: What happened to the discharge petition?
After two postponements, the House is expected to vote on a ‘compromise’ immigration bill on Wednesday, June 27. Though the bill’s text has not been released and more than a… Read More
Defining germaneness
During Senate consideration of the defense authorization bill, Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, objected to setting a vote on an amendment offered by Mike Lee, R-Utah, on the grounds… Read More
How do electoral incentives affect legislator behavior?
Image source By Alexander Fouirnaies and Andrew B. Hall The Democratic Goal: Electoral Accountability Those in power don’t always do what we want them to do; this is the central… Read More
How committee staffers clear the runway for legislative action in Congress
Admittedly, the audience at this spring’s “The State of Congressional Capacity Conference” was a receptive one. Congressional scholars from across the country gathered and presented research asking and… Read More
Concentrating implementation: How ideological agreement between the House and Senate affects delegation to the bureaucracy
Image source: The Hill By Jordan Carr Peterson Many scholars and observers of American legislative politics focus on the substantive public policies contained in laws Congress enacts. For instance,… Read More