Tag: institutional reform

A Trifecta Wish List Part I: Institutional Arrangements

By Dave Brockington

In General

On August 5, 2020

The possibility of a trifecta opens up a rare opportunity for some creative thinking regarding both the institutional structure and fundamental policy outputs to enhance the democratic credibility of the US. I’ve been keeping a wish list in my mind of sorts, and win or lose in November, I’m looking at developing this as a […]

Dave Brockington

Lords Reform

By Dave Brockington

On May 25, 2011

In my department I am something of an all-rounder: a lot of what I teach is outside my official areas of expertise, at times chilling out in the Oort cloud of my expertise. Political institutions is

General

Electoral College Counterfactuals

By Scott Lemieux

On November 10, 2010

Electoral reform has been one area where the cumbersome amendment process established by Article V hasn’t been a huge barrier. With the unusual exception of the 14th, the bulk of the substan

Dubious Soldiers In A Good Cause

By Scott Lemieux

In Uncategorized

On March 3, 2009

While as most if you know I certainly agree with David RePass’s general hostility to the filibuster, some of his specific arguments here are problematic. His conclusion — that the solution to the problem of adding yet another onerous supermajority requirement to a constitutional order that already has too many veto points is to force […]

Uncategorized

Judicial Term Limits and Rare Calls For Lochnerism

By Scott Lemieux

On February 24, 2009

Readers of this blog will know that I approve of the primary objective of this group of scholars and litigators, which is calling for the kind of judicial term limits that pretty much every other cons

General

On the Indefensibility of the Filibuster

By Scott Lemieux

On February 16, 2009

With the discussion here and elsewhere in the blogosphere about the filibuster, I thought it was worth trying to get to the core of the issues. It is true, as djw and I have argued in detail, that the

Judicial Term Limits and Judicial Independence

By Scott Lemieux

In Uncategorized

On February 12, 2009

For one last go-round, I’ll respond to a couple of the creative attempts in comments to justify essentially indefensible life tenure for judges. Essentially, all of these arguments are “largely speculative effects that would be trivial even if they existed with no attempt to balance them against the very real and identifiable costs of life […]

Uncategorized

For Judicial Term Limits

By Scott Lemieux

On February 10, 2009

Sandy Levinson makes the argument again. Before I get to some potential objections, I think a couple points should be emphasized. First, it’s abundantly clear that life tenure is in no way a req