Title: Congress and the Politics of Legislative Competition
Abstract: Congress is the first branch of government. It is a bicameral institution, organised by membership of party, Committees, Subcommittees, and bipartisan Caucuses. Unlike the British Parliament, the United States Congress is not constitutionally supreme: it may not invade certain specified (and other implied and inferred) rights of American citizens. These limitations are significant constraints on Congress's capacity to act, and hence upon majoritarianism; the United States remains a polity founded upon the defence of individual rights from encroachment by government. Permeated by its members' political calculations, and cross-cut by ideological, regional, racial, and ethnic interests, its powers are limited by the principles of separation of powers and Federalism in the Constitution, by other constitutional rights (particularly by the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment; see Appendix 2) and by the Constitution's guardians, the Federal Courts.
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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