Making Policy, Making Law
Making Policy, Making Law

Author: Mark Carlton Miller

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1589010256

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This volume proposes a new way of understanding the policymaking process in the United States by examining the complex interactions among the three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial. Collectively across the chapters a central theme emerges, that the U.S. Constitution has created a policymaking process characterized by ongoing interaction among competing institutions with overlapping responsibilities and different constituencies, one in which no branch plays a single static part. At different times and under various conditions, all governing institutions have a distinct role in making policy, as well as in enforcing and legitimizing it. This concept overthrows the classic theories of the separation of powers and of policymaking and implementation (specifically the principal-agent theory, in which Congress and the presidency are the principals who create laws, and the bureaucracy and the courts are the agents who implement the laws, if they are constitutional). The book opens by introducing the concept of adversarial legalism, which proposes that the American mindset of frequent legal challenges to legislation by political opponents and special interests creates a policymaking process different from and more complicated than other parliamentary democracies. The chapters then examine in depth the dynamics among the branches, primarily at the national level but also considering state and local policymaking. Originally conceived of as a textbook, because no book exists that looks at the interplay of all three branches, it should also have significant impact on scholarship about national lawmaking, national politics, and constitutional law. Intro., conclusion, and Dodd's review all give good summaries.

Making Tax Law
Making Tax Law

Author: Daniel M. Berman (Lawyer)

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781611632804

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This book explores the process of making U.S. tax law and examines the ways in which considerations of tax policy, tax politics, and tax administration intersect and contribute to the development of law through the legislative process, the promulgation of regulations and other administrative guidance, and the negotiation and ratification of tax treaties. The book provides detailed information regarding the legislative process that has not been published in other resources. This insider's look into the workings of the government is derived from Berman's twenty-five-year career as a Washington, D.C. tax attorney. The book uses tax legislation as a substantive backdrop for considering the legislative process and is suited for use in J.D.- or LL.M.-level courses such as Making Tax Law, Legislation, or Federal Regulatory and Legislative Practice Seminar. "There are many tax experts, but only a very select few combine executive branch, congressional, private sector and academic perspective in the way that Dan Berman does. His views should be given extremely careful consideration." --Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and former President of Harvard University "Dan is an expert at making and practicing tax law." --Sheldon S. Cohen, former Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The Making of Environmental Law
The Making of Environmental Law

Author: Richard J. Lazarus

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2008-09-15

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0226470644

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The unprecedented expansion in environmental regulation over the past thirty years—at all levels of government—signifies a transformation of our nation's laws that is both palpable and encouraging. Environmental laws now affect almost everything we do, from the cars we drive and the places we live to the air we breathe and the water we drink. But while enormous strides have been made since the 1970s, gaps in the coverage, implementation, and enforcement of the existing laws still leave much work to be done. In The Making of Environmental Law, Richard J. Lazarus offers a new interpretation of the past three decades of this area of the law, examining the legal, political, cultural, and scientific factors that have shaped—and sometimes hindered—the creation of pollution controls and natural resource management laws. He argues that in the future, environmental law must forge a more nuanced understanding of the uncertainties and trade-offs, as well as the better-organized political opposition that currently dominates the federal government. Lazarus is especially well equipped to tell this story, given his active involvement in many of the most significant moments in the history of environmental law as a litigator for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, an assistant to the Solicitor General, and a member of advisory boards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Ranging widely in his analysis, Lazarus not only explains why modern environmental law emerged when it did and how it has evolved, but also points to the ambiguities in our current situation. As the field of environmental law "grays" with middle age, Lazarus's discussions of its history, the lessons learned from past legal reforms, and the challenges facing future lawmakers are both timely and invigorating.

Making Law
Making Law

Author: Richard C. Cahn

Publisher: Gatekeeper Press

Published: 2020-04-14

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1642379522

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This unique memoir tells firsthand the stories of six dramatic public court cases, and shows how lawyers, sometimes fighting to make new precedent, and impartial judges who hear their arguments, are our best protection against inappropriate governmental actions. These are adventure stories, involving ordinary people attempting to protect themselves from actions by strangers or a public official that threaten to upend their lives: A male cadet soon to be commissioned learns that newly-coed West Point intends to expel him for “walking with” a female cadet. The family of the victims of three horrifying murders committed on an American military base seek justice after the government states it will not prosecute the probable murderer. Parents of a newborn baby with life-threatening medical conditions are sued by political zealots for custody of their child and the right to make her medical decisions. Other adventures involve the author, then 34, going to Washington to ask a sharply divided Supreme Court to invalidate his county’s 300-year -old charter in the first local reapportionment case in the nation; an emotional court confrontation between the White and Black populations of a local suburban community over zoning policies that it and most other American suburbs followed for many years; and New York’s high court missing an opportunity to prevent the 2007-2008 world financial crisis. These cases affected the lives of many, and became part of a long tradition of Constitutional law gradually changing to meet new conditions. The book is a clarion call to restore the courts’ impartility.

Legislation at Westminster
Legislation at Westminster

Author: Meg Russell

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0198753829

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The Westminster parliament is a highly visible political institution, and one of its core functions is approving new laws. Yet Britain's legislative process is often seen as executive-dominated, and parliament as relatively weak. As this book shows, such impressions can be misleading. Drawing on the largest study of its kind for more than forty years, Meg Russell and Daniel Gover cast new light on the political dynamics that shape the legislative process. They provide a fascinating account of the passage of twelve government bills - collectively attracting more than 4000 proposed amendments - through both the House of Commons and House of Lords. These include highly contested changes such as Labour's identity cards scheme and the coalition's welfare reforms, alongside other relatively uncontroversial measures. As well as studying the parliamentary record and amendments, the study draws from more than 100 interviews with legislative insiders. Following introductory chapters about the Westminster legislative process, the book focuses on the contribution of distinct parliamentary 'actors', including the government, opposition, backbenchers, select committees, and pressure groups. It considers their behaviour in the legislative process, what they seek to achieve, and crucially how they influence policy decisions. The final chapter reflects on Westminster's influence overall, showing this to be far greater than commonly assumed. Parliamentary influence is asserted in various different ways - ranging from visible amendments to more subtle means of changing government's behaviour. The book's findings make an important contribution to understanding both British politics and the dynamics of legislative bodies more broadly. Its readability and relevance will appeal to both specialists and general readers with interests in politics and law, in the UK and beyond.

Law-Making in the International Community
Law-Making in the International Community

Author: Gennadiĭ Mikhaĭlovich Danilenko

Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers

Published: 1993-01-01

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9780792320395

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As the world approaches the end of the twentieth century it becomes clear that the global legal system governing relations between the members of the international community is passing through a period of profound change. The traditional lawmaking techniques, established largely at the beginning of this century, were constituted so as to provide for only gradual reforms within a limited and homogeneous community of states. Faced with a growing number of global problems, the international community has discovered that the traditional legal system lacks effective procedures for rapid generation of new international legal norms. "Law-Making in the International Community" examines to what extent the transformations in the social and the legal infrastructures of the international community have affected the traditional rules, determining how international law is to be made or changed. By focusing on actual state practice, official statements of governments and the pronouncements of the World Court, this book seeks to clarify the content and significance of the existing community consensus concerning the authoritative methods of lawmaking.

Making Law
Making Law

Author: William J. Chambliss

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1993-11-22

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 9780253208347

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" . . . a distinct, broad, but compelling framework for examining a variety of laws and social policies." —Legal Studies Forum " . . . a very rich volume that has something to offer to many different tastes . . . an excellent companion to the main textbook in a large undergraduate law-and-society course." —Contemporary Sociology No issue has captured the imagination of social scientists and legal scholars more consistently than the creation of laws. The political implications of the study of law and society often create ideological diatribes with little attention to empirical detail. In this book, legal scholars, sociologists, political scientists, and anthropologists join in an attempt to develop and refine a structural theory of law.