Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Law
Evaluating Congressional Constitutional Interpretation: Some Criteria And Two Informal Case Studies, Mark V. Tushnet
Evaluating Congressional Constitutional Interpretation: Some Criteria And Two Informal Case Studies, Mark V. Tushnet
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
I begin this Essay by identifying some problems with conducting an empirical inquiry into Congress's performance in constitutional matters. I argue that there is actually only a small set of issues for which we have a reasonably clean record to evaluate. With the problems I have identified in the background, I then examine some aspects of Congress's performance in the impeachment of President William J. Clinton and, more briefly, some aspects of its response to a presidential military initiative taken without formal prior congressional endorsement. I conclude that Congress's performance in the impeachment, however flawed, was reasonably good, and that …