Saturday, February 13th, 2010
If high-school government class taught us anything, it’s that getting bills passed through Congress is a game of numbers: The bill with the most votes wins.
Turns out it’s not that simple. These days, the polarized state of American politics means that major bills need at least 60 votes to avoid an inevitable filibuster by the opposition.
Political scientist Gregory Koger’s new book, Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate, addresses the institutionalization of the filibuster — and describes congressional loopholes by way of which fast thinking and hard work can beat the numbers. Koger teaches American politics at the University of Miami. He joins host Terry Gross for a conversation about what has happened to simple majority rule.
Listen to Koger discuss the filibuster in an interview with Terry Gross
Posted in US GOV: Constitution Primer, US GOV: The Judiciary, USH: Constitution & Early Years | No Comments »
Monday, October 12th, 2009
Witness the American deputy solicitor general in his natural habitat—the Supreme Court. As Neal Katyal roams softly across the cool marble chamber, he has no idea what awaits him. He is here to protect his tribe—the U.S. government—which, in 1999, passed a statute making it a crime to create, sell, or possess “any visual or auditory depiction” of “animal cruelty” if the act of cruelty is itself illegal under either federal law or the law of the state in which the depiction occurred.
Read on from Slate
Posted in US GOV: The Judiciary, USH: Constitution & Early Years | No Comments »
Monday, October 12th, 2009
There’s just one person at oral argument in Salazar v. Buono this morning who really wants to talk about whether a 5-foot cross on federal government land in the Mojave National Preserve violates the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. But Justice Antonin Scalia really, really wants to talk about it. He looks particularly queasy when Peter Eliasberg—the ACLU lawyer whose client objects to crosses on government land—suggests partway through the morning that perhaps a less controversial World War I memorial might consist of “a statue of a soldier which would honor all of the people who fought for America in World War I and not just the Christians.”
Read on from Slate
Posted in US GOV: The Judiciary, USH: Constitution & Early Years | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Here is the official list of Supreme Court opinions for the past 4 years.
Enjoy it here
Posted in US GOV: The Judiciary | No Comments »
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
The latest news and analysis about key cases and critical arguments before the Supreme Court. The feed is updated frequently when the court is in session with interviews, background reports and updates to put key decisions in context.
These are listener friendly 5-10 minute discussions/lectures about recent Supreme Court decisions.
Posted in US GOV: The Judiciary | No Comments »
Monday, October 6th, 2008
The NY Times offers a sneak peek of the Supreme Court Docket here
Posted in US GOV: The Judiciary | No Comments »
Sunday, October 7th, 2007
1. Charlie Rose with Former Cheif Justice William H. Rehnquist in 1998
Charlie Rose: November 26, 1998
04:05
2. Charlie Rose with Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2002
Charlie Rose: February 28, 2002
04:05
3. Charlie Rose with O’Connor and Stephen Breyer
Charlie Rose – Stephen Breyer / Sandra Day O’Connor
04:05
4. Charlie Rose with Stephen Breyer
Charlie Rose – Stephen Breyer
04:05
5. Fresh Air Interview with Jeffrey Tooblin on his book “Nine Inside the Robes”
Fresh Air Interview with Linda Greenhouse on the closing of the 2006-07 session of the Supreme Court
Posted in US GOV: The Judiciary | No Comments »
Friday, September 14th, 2007
In a new book Justice Stephen Breyer, often at odds with Scalia and Thomas, outlines his judicial philosophy, and makes the argument that his is in fact a more democratic philosophy. The book is called Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution.
“I say ‘active liberty’ because I want to stress that democracy works if — and only if — the average citizen participates,” Breyer tells Nina Totenberg in an exclusive interview.
After 11 years on the Supreme Court, Breyer says he is comfortable in describing how he goes about interpreting the Constitution, the statutes and the regulations that come before the court. And without saying so, his book is something of a rejoinder to justice Scalia’s 1997 manifesto entitled: A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law.
Scalia’s view, called originalism, instructs judges to look to the words of the Constitution and what they meant at the time the document was written. He is critical of those like Breyer, who argue for a more flexible and adaptive interpretation of the Constitution’s words.
Breyer applies his theory of Constitutional interpretation to some of the most divisive legal questions tackled by the high court in recent years — affirmative action, privacy, separation of church and state and campaign finance.
Listen Here
(9 minutes)
Posted in US GOV: The Judiciary | No Comments »