the weaker party

Once every twelve years, each executive agency in the state is reviewed in order to determine whether the agency's functions are still n...

Again from Burka Blog , background on two rules changes members of the Texas House are looking to change

From the NYT : The presidential panel investigating the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico recommended on Tuesday that Congress approve ...

From Burka Blog , some background on Joe Straus' Reelection as Texas Speaker. Straus faced a fierce Tea Party inspired challenge, but he...

In 2301 we discussed the concept of legitimacy and how the legislative branch -- specifically the House of Representatives -- is designed to...

The Gallup Poll discovers that self identified "very conservatives" prefer members of Congress vote belief over compromise, while...

Who could have predicted this? The issue seemed dead and buried, but the Tucson shooters mental state seem to have caused some to wonder whe...

The NYT has a terrific piece on the various issues associated with originalism and highlights Antonin Scalia's pragmatic approach to us...

Paul Burka summarizes the opening day speeches in the Legislature: Today’s Senate session cast in stark relief two different leadership s...

He was a big fan of them apparently .

From the Austin American Statesman .

We've discussed separated powers in some of our introductory lecture and mentioned that a major concern of the framers of the constituti...

From a recent article in the Austin American Statesmen: The state's higher education agency, the governor's office and business-or...

The Tucson shooting has kicked up a firestorm over incendiary political speech -- especially speech with violent undertones (if not overtone...

Aside from post-poning the planned vote on the bill to repeal health care , the Tucson shooting has focused attention again on gun control ...

State Comptroller Susan Combs, as required, released the Biennial Revenue estimate , but there's confusion over how much the shortfall ...

For 2301 and 2302, Here’s a preview of some of the points you will be asked about in the upcoming assessment for week one: 2301 - sovere...

From Slate , an argument that addressing the problem will require a constitutional amendment: "Anchor babies" are back in the ne...

. . . just might happen .

Here's cheery news for college students. Given the vast number of jobs lost in the last 3 years, and the relatively slow rate of jobs cr...

Paul Krugman kicked up a storm in an editorial pointing out Texas' upcoming deficit shortfall (one of the reason's you can expect to...

Details from the NYT . Summary of commentary from Andrew Sullivan . Arizona Tea Party members are worried fingers will be pointed at th...

From the Atlantic : Fully 60 percent of whites nationwide backed Republican candidates for the House of Representatives; only 37 percent s...

From Law and Disorder : The contents of your cell phone can reveal a lot more about you than the naked eye can: who your friends are, what...

Meet William Daley . One of many new members of Obama's Administration that had extensive experience in the Clinton Administration, and ...

The House moved towards a mostly symbolic vote in favor of repealing health care. The real dispute seems to be about the costs of repeal a...

From the NYT . Apparently there was a dispute regarding whether the original text should have been read -- including its references to slave...

And begin by setting House rules , as they are charged to do in the Constitution. From the NYT: Jubilant Republicans took control of the...

Here's an academic paper arguing that they would not have . Two other academic types argue that the filibuster is actually unconstitut...

Ezra Klein has a post today on the ongoing dispute regarding the proper interpretation of the Constitution . It's a point we hit repeate...

From the NYT .

A great story in NPR about a neglected founder . And a newly released book about the man:

From Deal Book : Wall Street has long stacked its ranks with Washington types. It is the elephant in the room of White House grand barga...

C-Span video here . Is legislation adjusting the Espionage Act necessary to deal with the ease at which secrets can be made public? - Rea...

This is a very big deal and I'll integrate it into my discussion of federalism in 2301. It involves potential of challenges to the comme...

From the Huffington Post : As the first congressional session of Obama's presidency draws to a close, what began as a slow process of ...

Nothing really, other than political bargaining. In his takedown of the phrase Jonathan Bernstein has some succinct things to say about the...

Slate reports on how attitudes towards the environment and global warming have created (at least a minor) rift within the evangelical movem...

From the NYT : A federal district judge in Virginia ruled on Monday that the keystone provision in the Obama health care law is unconstitu...

A case involving accusations of gender discrimination at Wal-Mart is also allowing the court to question the very practice of bringing class...

The Claremont Institute takes on Cass Sunstein .

Some folks go at it over at Politico .

A discussion in the NYT : In the tempest that has followed the release of a trove of secret government files by WikiLeaks, officials and s...

A ten part series .

A topic we will discuss next semester. According to Ezra Klein : On Tuesday, I asked Glenn Hubbard, one of the architects of the Bush tax ...

An example of how legislation can be stopped -- even though majorities support them -- by blocking bill form reaching the floor. - The Sen...

A great insider's analysis of the personalities and dynamics on the Supreme Court.

- Committee Chairs have been announced . ( more from The Hill ) - House Calendar Released .

Greg Sargeant thinks not : . . . there may be a gap between what high profile liberal commentators -- the so-called "professional lef...

Updates: - Jonathan Caperhart . - Greg Sargeant .

CNN breaks down what was cut :

From the NYT : A year ago, President Obama and the Democrats made the mistake of assuming that an economic recovery was under way. This we...

From the New Republic : The bursting of the housing bubble, which brought down the banking industry because banks were so heavily invested...

From the NYT : The proceedings in the Senate on Tuesday were as remarkable as the charges that lawmakers there were asked to weigh. As tax...

Photo Essay: Why Nixon Created the EPA .

From Ezra Klein via Andrew Sullivan.

Wendy Kaminer is not a fan of legislation introduced in the Senate that addresses bullyign on school campuses: There's no dearth of i...

A few comments from Bruce Bartlett on the effectiveness of the " starve the beast " strategy towards reducing the size of the fede...

From the Brookings Institution . In class yesterday as we were reviewing the bicameral system and how it was intended to tie the House clo...

Maybe : One important indicator will be who is chosen to lead the House subcommittee that oversees the Fed when Republicans take control o...

Some musings .

Two conservatives debate the role of government .

This is  the most clear headed comment  I've yet seen about the (potential) problem posed by wikileaks and other organizations that seek...

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley would like to see us return to the old fashioned f ilibusters of yesterday, the one's that actually involv...

From the Atlantic, a profile on our own Rep. Ron Paul . The comments are probably more interesting than the article.

They both promote and oppose it : Domino’s Pizza was hurting early last year. Domestic sales had fallen, and a survey of big pizza chain c...

Given Republican opposition to earmarks, its worth considering their actual impact on the communities that receive them. Here's a bit of...

Slate outlines the process by which the pat down policy was developed, announced and implemented, as well as the campaign its now waging to...

Fitting subject matter, considering our recent class discussions. Ackerman wonders if the republic can survive the growing pow...

Another extra credit option. A book detailing the personalities FDR placed on the court. A review from Slate .

The makers of the body scanners have lobbied Congress heavily to promote their products. The companies with multimillion-dollar contracts...

... nearly two thirds of Americans support full body scanners at airports.

From  USA Today : Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit are three of the incumbents tossed out of office Tuesday by angry voters. ...

Before too much time passes, for 2302, some background on the concept of "quantitative easing" which is a technique used by the Fe...

From Findlaw : Stop and frisk sounds more like a trendy dance move or a board game than a form of racial profiling. But that is exactly wh...

The recent acquital on all but one count of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani raises at least two constitutional issues for us. First, and this applies...

Texas has 2,383 felonies on record -- things the legislature has decided you can be imprisoned for. Grits for Breakfast tells us the last l...

So much for throwing the bums out . Although the figure is generally higher -- in the upper 90s -- a high percentage of members of the House...

The evidence is not conclusive . The last decade had the slowest growth rate since the 1960s, and this was after the Bush tax cuts.

The National Journal points out ten members of the House who could suffer from redistricting .

I'll begin linking to a variety of stories covering the current leadership battles in the U.S. Congress and Texas Legislature. - Hoyer...

In light of the midterm elections, some notable Democrats have written recommendations to Obama outlining how he can advance his agenda wit...

The GOP sees opportunity reaching out to the gay and lesbian community, but only at the risk of losing evangelicals .

Ted Koppel cares for neither Keith Olbermann nor Bill O'Reilly and sees them as symptoms of the death of "real" news . He blam...

For 2301, and our coverage of public opinion. From the Gallup Poll : Two-thirds of Americans say there is more crime in the United State...

I'm putting together the final written question for 2301, and I'd like to share it -- or the topic -- prior to posting it. We'...

From the NYT : The House ethics committee ruled on Monday that there was evidence to support 13 counts of misconduct by Representative Cha...

From Texas Watchdog : A list of bad jurors kept by prosecutors is not a public record, according to the state attorney general's offic...

The fight to control the Republican Party in the U.S. Senate is getting testier. From Wonkbook: Mitch McConnell announces he will reluct...

Ezra Klein links to four separate debt calculators . See what you can do.

From a couple months back: - the transcript .

From WonkBook: Junior Democrats in the Senate are pushing ahead with filibuster reform, reports J. Taylor Rushing : "Sen. Tom Udall s...

For our discussion of civil rights: Conservatives argue that Community Reinvestment Act of 1977  (and other simlar laws ), which outlawed pr...

Only 4% of respondents to a CBS Poll want Congress to focus first on the deficit.

For this week's discussion on civil rights, the Leadership Conference on Civil Right's scorecard for the 111th Congress .

Rick Casey comments on what he calls the most stable job in Texas politics: Texas State Senator. There is one Texas elected body that is s...

Again from Slatest, this time a story from the Washington Post, should Obama declare that he will not run for reelection and instead focus o...

From Politico , via Slatest , an example of a key point we cover separately in 2301 and 2302. Our two large decentralized parties have to be...

From Politico : Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be tapped as the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association when the organization mee...

Click here for the actual recommendations made by the Debt Commission . These are only the expenditures. They propose $100 billion each in d...