Category «Congress»

Impeachment Investigations: Law and Process

CRS report via LC – Impeachment Investigations: Law and Process October 2, 2019:  “Speaker Pelosi announced last week that the House “is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.” Although the Speaker’s statement did not address precisely how the House will proceed, it is noteworthy not only because the House has so rarely investigated a …

Subjects: Congress, Legal Research

Both the Inspector General and the Whistleblower Followed the Law

POGO – “In the swirl of the news cycle about revelations coming from an intelligence whistleblower and misguided but predictable attacks on them, we want to set some facts straight. The whistleblower’s complaint documented his urgent concern that President Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate his political opponent Joe Biden and his son …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research

Hearing – The Federal Judiciary in the 21st Century

House Cmte. on the Judiciary – The Federal Judiciary in the 21st Century: Ensuring the Public’s Right of Access to the Courts – September 26, 2019 – Documents Witness List  A statement from Judge Steve Leben, Kansas Court of Appeals A letter from Judge Bridget Mary McCormack, Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court A letter from …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research, Libraries

Brace Yourself for the Internet Impeachment

The New York Times: “The last time America watched an impeachment inquiry, it was largely an analog affair. When the House voted to begin impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton in 1998, only one in four American homes had internet access. AOL and Yahoo were the biggest websites in the world, and “tweet” was a sound …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

How Congress turns citizens’ voices into data points

Via LLRX – How Congress turns citizens’ voices into data points – Samantha McDonald, University of California, Irvine focuses our attention on an increasingly critical issue – big technology companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google aren’t the only ones facing huge political concerns about using citizen data: So is Congress. Reports by congressional researchers over …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management

PACER Court Records ‘Can Never Be Free,’ Judge Says

House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing held September 26, 2019 – The Federal Judiciary in the 21st Century: Ensuring the Public’s Right of Access to the Courts – Statement by The Honorable Audrey G. Fleissig</a, >U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Missouri “…Based on the experiences of California and the FBI, upgrading the current Judiciary …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

Congress releases whistleblower complaint alleging Trump abused his office

The New York Times – “After hearing that President Trump tried to persuade Ukraine to investigate a 2020 campaign rival, senior officials at the White House scrambled to “lock down” records of the call, a whistle-blower alleged in an explosive complaint released Thursday. In an attempt to “lock down” all records of the call, in …

Subjects: Congress, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

How an Impeachment Process Inquiry Works

The New York Times – The inquiry into President Trump has the potential to reshape his presidency. Here’s how impeachment works. “…The Constitution permits Congress to remove presidents before their term is up if enough lawmakers vote to say that they committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”Only two presidents have been impeached …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research

How The Democratic Groundswell For Impeachment Happened

FiveThirtyEight: “On Tuesday afternoon [September 24, 2019], House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her plans to open an official impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Although she and others in House leadership positions have resisted opening formal impeachment proceedings for months, a deluge of new calls from more moderate members of her party may have cemented her …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research

U.S. Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress

CRS Report via FAS – U.S. Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress, updated September 23, 2019: “The U.S. role in the world refers to the overall character, purpose, or direction of U.S. participation in international affairs and the country’s overall relationship to the rest of the world. The U.S. role in the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, Economy, Government Documents, Legal Research

Ways and Means Committee Releases Report on International Drug Pricing

“Today, the Ways and Means Committee released a report, titled “A Painful Pill to Swallow: U.S. vs. International Prescription Drug Prices,” finding that U.S. drug prices are nearly four times higher than the combined average of 11 other similar countries, and that Americans pay as much as 67 times more than consumers in other nations …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Health Care, Medicine

The Language of Congress – What topics do members of Congress tweet about most frequently?

The Pudding – “We fed thousands of Congressional tweets to a machine learning algorithm in order to recognize political issues. We’ll keep doing this every day of the 116th congress, from January 3 2019 through January 3, 2021. These are the topics that dominate members
 of Congress’ public discourse—the issues they discuss (and don’t discuss). …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation, Social Media