matthewhpolsci
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:06:11 -0800
Paul S. Reinsch was an early (circa 1900-1920s) political science writer on legislative processes. I recall (subject to check) that he edited a reader on government in which one of the articles was by a United States senator who argued forcefully that the President had no right to send draft legislation to Congress. The idea of "Presidential leadership of Congress" had not yet become part of political science analysis and journalistic common sense. Should we just give Cantor credit and presume that he, being educated in the world redefined by FDR, et. seq. assumes, contrary to history and text, that "Presidential leadership" is the norm and the mandate? Matthew Holden, Jr. -----Original Message----- From: Miller, Darrell (mille2di) <mille...@ucmail.uc.edu> To: Nelson Lund <nl...@gmu.edu> Cc: 'Rosenthal, Lawrence' <rosen...@chapman.edu>; Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu <Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu> Sent: Fri, Jan 29, 2010 5:55 pm Subject: RE: Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of Representatives I don't think it is that novel. Why should a President be criticized for dhering to the Constitution, on the basis that it shows a lack of political udgment? To put it more pointedly, if Obama gets a bill that does not comply ith the holding in Citizens United (or Heller, or Sullivan, or Printz, or Roe) houldn't he reject it, and not be denigrated for doing so, even if the bill is ildly popular? ________________________________________ rom: Nelson Lund [nl...@gmu.edu] ent: Friday, January 29, 2010 5:35 PM o: Miller, Darrell (mille2di) c: 'Rosenthal, Lawrence'; Steven Jamar; Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu ubject: Re: Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of Representatives As I said, Rep. Cantor's criticism of the President may be right or wrong (I ake no position on that question). But it was not "incredibly dumb" and it ertainly need not have reflected some risible ignorance of the Constitution. With respect to the last point, it would seem to require a novel notion of airness to say that it's unfair to criticize a President for showing a lack of olitical judgment. Nelson Lund eorge Mason iller, Darrell (mille2di) wrote: ut what if the President stepped aside from the details of the bill precisely n the (perhaps naïve) belief that the House is the part of government that is ctually supposed to directly reflect the will of the people. Reagan-like he ays “here’s my big policy goal, you in the House, with your fingers most on the ulse of the will of the people, go forth and do the people’s work.” (This ould seem to me to be close to what Article II requires in terms of recommendations”, as Professor Lund has indicated). More broadly, is it fair to criticize the President for acting in a manner onsistent with Constitutional design when it shows a lack of political udgment? From: conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu> mailto:conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Rosenthal, Lawrence ent: Friday, January 29, 2010 3:58 PM o: Steven Jamar c: Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu> ubject: RE: Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of Representatives This strikes me as quite unfair criticism of Rep. Cantor. In context, it seems lear to me that his point is not that President Obama did something improper by eaving the crafting of the health care legislation to Congress, but that he ook a course of action that was politically imprudent, and which reflects oorly on the President’s judgment. Surely he is correct on that point. ongressional support for any major piece of legislation is sure to collapse if t becomes sufficiently unpopular, and in that respect, if the President chose o embrace health care reform as his own political priority (as he did), it ould have been politically prudent to ensure that the bill did not become so aden with special interest provisions that it would become a political iability. That, of course, is precisely what happened to the bill (although he deal-cutting actually seems to have been much more problematic in the Senate han the House). In retrospect, this seems to me to be an entirely fair riticism of the President’s approach. Larry Rosenthal hapman University School of Law From: conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu> mailto:conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Steven Jamar ent: Friday, January 29, 2010 12:37 PM c: Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu> ubject: Re: Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of Representatives Paul, I'm sure Cantor knows -- and that Darrell's point is correct -- Cantor is ngaging in cynical campaigning (is there any other kind?) to undermine Obama. f Cantor were Majority Whip, I'm sure we'd find him complaining about Obama rying to usurp the proper constitutional function of the House by being too nvolved in the legislation process. It is just substantively nonsense, cynically done for political gain. Of course the President has a huge role to play in legislation -- including irecting it. And some Presidents (e.g., Bush II, Lyndon Johnson) play that ole much more vigorously than others (Eisenhower, Carter, even Reagan). No. He understands what he is saying, why he is saying it, and is clearly doing hat has become (and has been in the past) the norm for some politicians -- make oints, not policy. Steve n Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 3:19 PM, Paul Finkelman <paul.finkel...@yahoo.com<mailto:paul.finkel...@yahoo.com>> rote: ast time I knew the job of the House of Representatives WAS to write egislation. I guess Cantor does not understand Article I of the US onstitution. It is partisan, but sadly, it is also incredibly dumb ---- aul Finkelman resident William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law lbany Law School 0 New Scotland Avenue lbany, NY 12208 18-445-3386 (p) 18-445-3363 (f) paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu<mailto:paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu> www.paulfinkelman.com<http://www.paulfinkelman.com> _______________________________ rom: "Miller, Darrell (mille2di)" <mille...@ucmail.uc.edu<mailto:mille...@ucmail.uc.edu>> o: "Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu>" Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu>> ent: Fri, January 29, 2010 2:43:38 PM ubject: Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of Representatives >From Politico, full link here: >http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32192_Page2.html Cantor criticized Obama for last year’s “outsourcing of the legislative activity rom the White House to Nancy Pelosi here in this House,” which he said has esulted in “a bill shift and an agenda shift way to the left and outside the ainstream of this country.” To me, this seems like a fairly gross exploitation of people’s ignorance of our ystem of divided government, and an indictment of partisan gerrymandering which akes this kind of statement politically resonant. Darrell A.H. Miller ssistant Professor of Law niversity of Cincinnati College of Law O Box 210040 lifton Avenue & Calhoun Street incinnati, OH 45221-0040 : 513-556-0133 : 513-556-1236 : darrell.mil...@uc.edu<mailto:darrell.mil...@uc.edu> faculty page: ttp://www.law.uc.edu/faculty/profiles/miller.php SSRN: ttp://ssrn.com/author=1107305 _______________________________________________ o post, send message to Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu> o subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see ttp://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. nyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can ead the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the essages to others. -- rof. Steven Jamar oward University School of Law ssociate Director, Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice IIPSJ) Inc. ________________________________ _______________________________________________ o post, send message to Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu> o subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see ttp://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. nyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can ead the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the essages to others. _______________________________________________ o post, send message to Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu o subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see ttp://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. nyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can ead the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the essages to others.
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