Congress's Constitution : Legislative Authority and the Separation of Powers / Josh Chafetz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chafetz, Josh, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Congress.

United States.

Separation of powers--United States.

Separation of powers.

Constitutional law--United States.

Constitutional law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (438 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

A leading scholar of Congress and the Constitution analyzes Congress's surprisingly potent set of tools in the system of checks and balances. Congress is widely supposed to be the least effective branch of the federal government. But as Josh Chafetz shows in this boldly original analysis, Congress in fact has numerous powerful tools at its disposal in its conflicts with the other branches. These tools include the power of the purse, the contempt power, freedom of speech and debate, and more. Drawing extensively on the historical development of Anglo-American legislatures from the seventeenth century to the present, Chafetz concludes that these tools are all means by which Congress and its members battle for public support. When Congress uses them to engage successfully with the public, it increases its power vis-à-vis the other branches; when it does not, it loses power. This groundbreaking take on the separation of powers will be of interest to both legal scholars and political scientists.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Introduction

PART ONE: SEPARATION-OF-POWERS MULTIPLICITY

Prelude

1. Political Institutions in the Public Sphere

2. The Role of Congress

PART TWO: CONGRESSIONAL HARD POWERS

3. The Power of the Purse

4. The Personnel Power

5. Contempt of Congress

PART THREE: CONGRESSIONAL SOFT POWERS

6. The Freedom of Speech or Debate

7. Internal Discipline

8. Cameral Rules

Conclusion: Toward a Normative Evaluation

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

ISBN:

0-300-22764-7

OCLC:

988600437