December, 2005

Senators and the 17th

by Akhil Reed Amar
The Conversation
December 15th, 2005

A quick rejoinder to Dr. Niskanen: I am not sure why we should focus only on “presidents directly elected from the Senate.” In my book, (p. 415) I present rather different data, to wit: While before enactment of the amendment only three of the ten most recent presidents had previously served in the Senate (as [...]

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Odds and Ends

by William A. Niskanen
The Conversation
December 15th, 2005

Prof. Buchanan’ initial essay and his response illustrate the problems of translating even broadly shared principles into constitutional language. A discussion of principles, however, is only the first stage of a constitutional dialogue. Specific proposed language is a necessary next step, both to clarify the implication of the principle and to test the support for [...]

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