Questions tagged [us-federal-government]
For questions regarding the United States federal government. For questions about US federal law, use [united-states] instead.
13
questions
6
votes
1
answer
382
views
Can the US Government assert copyright on a government work internationally?
From what I understand, large swaths of US Government works are considered "public domain", but this unrestricted status applies only within the United States,
For this question I am assuming the ...
- 463
2
votes
2
answers
294
views
Felony murder in the U.S. Capitol [duplicate]
Reports say that someone died during the protest/occupation at the Capital building. Given that, is it reasonable that some of the persons who stormed the building could be successfully prosecuted ...
- 199
23
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Bright-line or Litmus Test for Sedition?
The media is crediting Donald Trump, Giuliani and Trump's son with inciting the protesters to march from the Ellipse to and breach the Capitol building on 6 January 2021, interrupting the electoral ...
- 6,345
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can someone be penalized for an "unlawful" act if no penalty is specified?
If a US federal statute specifies that an act is unlawful without specifying a penalty, without using any of the words "misdemeanor," "felony," or "crime," and without ...
- 31.2k
6
votes
2
answers
401
views
If someone was charged with 15 counts but was only indicted on 2, can the prosecutor introduce evidence at sentencing of charges that we not indicted?
I just have a question about information being presented that a defendant was not indicted on. If someone was charged with 15 counts of a crime but was only indicted on 2 counts, can the prosecutor ...
3
votes
2
answers
294
views
Naive approach to aggregating all US Federal Laws?
I'm a software developer and I've recently found myself curious about the US Federal Laws. There's a seemingly unsolved question of "How Many Federal Laws Are There?" (https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/...
- 133
3
votes
1
answer
291
views
Private companies asking for Social Security Number?
I thought that the privacy act (HIPAA) forbade use of the Social Security Number, or even asking for it, except by banks and federal agencies.
Nevertheless, I frequently get asked for my Social ...
- 6,764
2
votes
0
answers
33
views
Why was the decision to make a non-traditional prosecutorial judgement unclear at the start of the 2017 Special Counsel Investigation?
Background
One comment on this question about Robert Mueller's 2017 Special Counsel Investigation inquired about a specific aspect of the investigation. This aspect related to the prosecutorial ...
- 1,561
2
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Could a president sue a person for defamation during their time in office?
In this hypothetical (unless it's happened in the past), a prominent citizen or news agency makes statements about the president, or his decisions or policies, that are knowingly inaccurate or false ...
user3580
1
vote
1
answer
148
views
Is it legal to give fictional characters titles of real-world government officials?
Is it legal to refer to fictional characters in a video game with titles of real-world government officials, e.g., a Congressman, the President, etc.? I've seen lots of movies where they refer to &...
- 37
1
vote
2
answers
3k
views
Can a presidential pardon be overruled?
I know a presidential veto on a law (or bill, since they didn't sign it) can be overruled by a two-third vote in both houses. Is the same, or a similar process, available to overturn a pardon?
- 203
0
votes
1
answer
57
views
Procedural Rules v Federal Law?
This question is inspired by @ohwilleke response to my previous question.
In his response, ohwilleke highlighted the following point:
Isn't the the Appellate Division in NJ required to uphold the ...
- 597
-2
votes
2
answers
206
views
How many lines of text in all currently active federal laws of US?
LOC (lines of code) is a useful measure of amount of work done in software development. It works well when comparing orders of magnitude. Hello world: 1-10 LOC. Tetris: 100-200 LOC. Gmail: 1 Million ...
- 131