91
votes
Accepted
Was it illegal for Nancy Pelosi to tear up her copy of the State of the Union address?
While there is an act that President Trump and his supporters are citing, titled the Presidential Records Act (PRA),
to accuse House Speaker Pelosi of breaking federal law, it is important to ...
- 866
62
votes
Could one house of Congress completely shut down the other house by passing a large number of frivolous bills?
No, because neither House nor Senate is obliged to consider each and every bill brought to it.
- 12.2k
61
votes
Accepted
If Congress passed a bill written in a language other than English, would it be valid?
It would indeed be valid and legally enforceable. The Constitution places no limits on what languages bills must be written in. The Constitution specifically allows each house of Congress to make its ...
- 2,832
49
votes
Was it illegal for Nancy Pelosi to tear up her copy of the State of the Union address?
44 U.S.C. 22
That copy was probably not a record
(B) does not include any documentary materials that are ...(iv) extra copies of documents produced only for convenience of reference, when such ...
- 1,620
40
votes
If Congress passed a bill written in a language other than English, would it be valid?
Yes
The United States does not have an official language.
- 192k
35
votes
Accepted
Could Congress "bribe" the President to sign a bill by including a presidential pay raise?
No.
Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution states
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a
Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during
the Period ...
- 1,611
27
votes
Can bills (the documents of laws/legislation) have pictures? Or text only? Can images become part of the legal code?
Regulations - Yes, Acts of Parliament - very rarely
In in the united-kingdom diagrams are found in regulations, for example legislation dealing with roadside symbols.
There are two kinds of ...
- 1,594
27
votes
Accepted
I am a US citizen but have never lived in the US. Who is my Congress member?
You would check with the authorities in the state where your parents last lived. Actually, you can write to any congressperson, and they can pay attention to you or ignore you as they like. (This also ...
- 206k
26
votes
Are legislators ever asked to explain their intent in Supreme Court cases?
Many jurists do accept that it is appropriate to attempt to ascertain the "legislative intent" as part of the exercise of statutory interpretation, but legislative intent is not an aggregate ...
- 36.5k
25
votes
What happens if Congress declares war, but POTUS refuses to fight it?
If President Trump refuses to execute the war, does that become an act of treason on his part?
Probably not, but it depends on the definition of treason. Congress could decide that it is, impeach ...
- 33.9k
24
votes
Accepted
Could one house of Congress completely shut down the other house by passing a large number of frivolous bills?
The Constitution of the United States allows each house of Congress to make their own rules for their proceedings (Article I, Section 5, paragraph 2.) Neither has any control over the other's rules. ...
- 2,832
19
votes
Can bills (the documents of laws/legislation) have pictures? Or text only? Can images become part of the legal code?
There is no legal reason why pictures couldn't be in the text of a bill.
I don't know of any examples in the main text of the US Code. However, it has been pointed out to me that Title 4 of the US ...
- 7,007
18
votes
What does "Congress having occupied the field" mean?
There are a number of areas in which the US states can pass laws only to the extend that they do not conflict with Federal laws passed by Congress. When a federal law clearly says that states may not ...
- 112k
14
votes
Accepted
How can the US House of Representatives transition to be elected by proportional representation? Would editing "PL 2 USC 2c" work?
In each State entitled in the Ninety-first Congress or in any
subsequent Congress thereafter to more than one Representative under
an apportionment made pursuant to the provisions of section 2a(a) of
...
- 186k
14
votes
If Congress passed a bill written in a language other than English, would it be valid?
Under Article VI of the Constitution, treaties have the force of law, and the United States has sometimes ratified treaties in languages other than English.
For example, the treaty signed with Morocco ...
- 2,711
13
votes
Will a contempt of congress lawsuit actually reach the merits?
"Contempt of Congress" does not extend, in a legal sense, to insulting Congress as a whole, one house, a committee chair, or a member. (Congress and its committees have power to require both members ...
- 112k
13
votes
Can Congress disqualify people from Federal office?
Impeachment
In addition to the Constitutional qualifications, one may become ineligible to federal office by being impeached by the House, convicted and removed from office by the Senate, and having ...
- 112k
12
votes
Can Congress disqualify people from Federal office?
The President, Vice-President, Senators and Congressmen are the only elected federal officials, and their qualifications are described in the US Constitution (Art 1, Sect 2, Clause 1 & 2 for ...
- 206k
12
votes
Durability of Federal legislation protecting abortion rights in US
The Supremacy Clause makes Federal laws superior to state laws and even state constitutions, but that is only true for Constitutional federal laws. If Congress passed a law seeking to restore the ...
- 112k
10
votes
What does "Congress having occupied the field" mean?
"Occupying the field" refers to a situation in where federal regulation of a matter is "so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to ...
- 55.8k
9
votes
Accepted
Does Congress have the authority to grant citizenship to an individual?
A law which punishes a specific person – a "bill of attainder" – is unconstitutional. Private laws, which benefit an individual, are legal. An example is Private Law 112-1, which says
...
- 206k
9
votes
Is there a gap in the office of Speaker of the House?
There will be a gap in succession, but only briefly.
Speaker Paul Ryan's term extends past the election through the end of the 115th Congress, to 11:59:59 p.m. on January 2, 2018.
From there, the ...
- 55.8k
9
votes
Accepted
If a House member is barred from the House for not wearing a face mask, does that House member's constituents lose their representation in Congress?
There is no current authorization to bar any member of the house from the floor, so the answer depends heavily on what actually happens. Since remote voting was approved, no constituency would be ...
- 206k
8
votes
Accepted
Is there any way a US president could be voted in by popular vote more than two terms?
There are two possible scenarios: The Vice-Presidential President and a mass Write In.
In the first, if the elected President is removed from office after 2 years in office, than the Vice-President (...
- 22.5k
8
votes
Will the next Congress (2021) be sworn in on a Sunday?
Final Result: The 117th Congress did actually meet and swear in on a Sunday, January 3, 2021. Per the other answer by @NateEldredge, this was the first Sunday swearing in for at least several ...
- 384
8
votes
Accepted
(U.S.A.) Removing senators not from your state
The only way that a member of the House of Representatives, or a U.S. Senator can be removed from office (other than by resignation, death, or expiration of a term of office without being re-elected) ...
- 186k
8
votes
Can bills (the documents of laws/legislation) have pictures? Or text only? Can images become part of the legal code?
While it isn't expressly forbidden, it is very rare to see this in legislature adopted statutes, which usually incorporate some other source by reference when there is an intent to do so.
In contrast, ...
- 186k
8
votes
Accepted
Can a chamber of Congress pass a bill that the other chamber passed in the past?
To become law, a bill must be passed, in identical form, by both chambers of Congress, during the same Congress that is during the two-year period between congressional elections. At the end of a ...
- 112k
8
votes
Could one house of Congress completely shut down the other house by passing a large number of frivolous bills?
The Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader set the agenda for items to be brought to the floors of their respective chambers. Either is free to ignore proposed legislation from the other ...
- 201
8
votes
Are legislators ever asked to explain their intent in Supreme Court cases?
One impediment to such explanations is that when hearing an appeal (as opposed to a case where SCOTUS has original jurisdiction), there are no witnesses testifying. An attorney for a party may argue, ...
- 206k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible