Saturday, February 26, 2005

Constitutional Notes Part II

Sect.2 In the entire section about the Legislative Branch, I didn't read anything about how many votes a Representative in the House of Representatives has. The Constitution makes it clear that each Senator has one vote. However, it does not say something like that about the Representatives. Oh and by the way, I am not doing this while I am reading the Constitution, I have written my notes down.

Sect. 4.1 When it comes down to how elections are held, the state legislatures decide. While Congress can regulate this to some extent, they have no control over where elections for Senators occur.

Sect. 5.3 Congress has to keep a journal of its daily proceedings, the Constitution says that certain parts may be omitted for secrecy. Who decides wether it should be omitted or not, or whether it should be kept secret?

2 comments:

GeoBandy said...

Keep in mind, originally Senators were not directly elected, they were chosen by the state legislatures. The federal government could not require the state legislatures to convene at a particular place (i.e., at an unusual or different place)to elect Senators.

The Sovereign Editor said...

Regarding the daily journal: the House is allowed to promulgate its own rules of procedure. Apparently, they have written the rules in such a way that particularly embarrassing speeches can be stricken from the record. For example Jacksonville's own Corrine Brown made a very inflammatory speech on the House floor last summer in which she described the 2000 election as a 'coup d'tat' (forgive my spelling). I heard the speech from a C-Span recording, but I have been told that it mysteriously disappeared from the minutes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.