The legislative branch of the United States government (embodied in Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate) is the cornerstone of the federal lawmaking process and a central pillar of the constitutional system of checks and balances. Through its exclusive powers to enact laws, oversee the…
In this June 18, 2025 Report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides information concerning outlays for the government’s major mandatory programs and tax credits that are primarily means-tested and provide assistance to people with relatively low income or few assets. Summary: House Budget Committee Chairman Arrington has asked CBO to…
From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), June 12, 2025:* OVERVIEW: “This interactive tool illustrates the distributional effects of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It allows users to explore how H.R. 1, as passed by the House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, would affect the economic resources…
Congressional Budget Office’s transparency efforts are intended to promote a thorough understanding of its work, help people gauge how estimates might change if policies or circumstances differed, and enhance the credibility of its analyses and processes SUMMARY: Transparency is a top priority for the Congressional Budget Office, and the agency…
The U.S. Constitution enshrines a system of separation of powers, ensuring that legislative, executive, and judicial branches operate independently while keeping one another in check. This structure is meant to prevent the concentration of power and to safeguard individual liberty. But in recent years, many legal scholars, judges, and concerned…
April 10, 2025 From The Legal File by Reuters Legal. The rundown on the top legal news of the day.
From VERDICT, Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia, 27 March 2025. SUMMARY: NYU Law Professor Samuel Estreicher and JD candidate Andrew Babbitt analyze President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) during his second administration to impose and threaten tariffs on several countries. They highlight how this…
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)* has created a workbook to allow users to define and analyze alternative economic scenarios by specifying differences in the values of four economic variables relative to the values underlying CBO’s January 2025 projections. SUMMARY: This workbook allows users to define and analyze alternative economic scenarios…
In his essay, Do State Legislatures Have to Obey U.S. Supreme Court Decisions? Amherst professor Austin Sarat discusses how several state legislatures, particularly Alabama, are passing laws allowing the death penalty for child rape despite a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, Kennedy v. Louisiana, that declared such punishment unconstitutional. Professor Sarat…
Introduction Materials consulted in preparing this posting were curated from various sources including the recently introduced Deep Research by OpenAI. With Elon Musk at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency, various agencies within the U.S. government may experience restructuring aimed at streamlining operations, reducing costs, and integrating advanced…