Bruce Ackerman: Is the Lame-Duck Congress Constitutional?
[Bruce Ackerman is a professor of law at Yale and the author most recently of "The Decline and Fall of the American Republic."]
During the darkest days of the Depression, Time magazine spied a ray of light: Congress passed the 20th Amendment, which "promised to eliminate the legislative influence of Senators & Representatives whose constituencies have already repudiated them."
This was a big deal in 1932. The new amendment culminated a decade-long Progressive campaign against lame-duck sessions, and it rapidly gained the support of three-fourths of the states.
Why, then, is the lame-duck Congress coming to Washington on Monday? Because of a dispute between the House and Senate over the text of the amendment....
Read entire article at WaPo
During the darkest days of the Depression, Time magazine spied a ray of light: Congress passed the 20th Amendment, which "promised to eliminate the legislative influence of Senators & Representatives whose constituencies have already repudiated them."
This was a big deal in 1932. The new amendment culminated a decade-long Progressive campaign against lame-duck sessions, and it rapidly gained the support of three-fourths of the states.
Why, then, is the lame-duck Congress coming to Washington on Monday? Because of a dispute between the House and Senate over the text of the amendment....