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Full-Text Articles in Legal History
A Decision Theory Of Statutory Interpretation: Legislative History By The Rules, Victoria Nourse
A Decision Theory Of Statutory Interpretation: Legislative History By The Rules, Victoria Nourse
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
We have a law of civil procedure, criminal procedure, and administrative procedure, but we have no law of legislative procedure. This failure has serious consequences in the field of statutory interpretation. Using simple rules garnered from Congress itself, this Article argues that those rules are capable of transforming the field of statutory interpretation. Addressing canonical cases in the field, from Holy Trinity to Bock Laundry, from Weber to Public Citizen, this article shows how cases studied by vast numbers of law students are made substantially more manageable, and in some cases quite simple, through knowledge of congressional procedure. …
Term Limits On Original Intent--An Essay On Legal Debate And Historical Understanding, Polly J. Price
Term Limits On Original Intent--An Essay On Legal Debate And Historical Understanding, Polly J. Price
Faculty Articles
This Essay is divided into five Parts. Part I sets the stage for the historical debate by evaluating the text of the Qualifications Clauses as well as the limited evidence of what the Framers and the ratifiers thought about these provisions. Part II shows that many states, immediately after the federal Constitution was ratified, behaved as though the Qualifications Clauses did not prevent them from adding qualifications for congressional office-holding. Part III compares this early evidence of state behavior with a debate in Congress after the Civil War concerning the meaning of the Qualifications Clauses. Part IV returns to the …