What makes a U.S congressional bill non-binding? Is there a way to tell from the text of the bill itself? [more inside]
posted by metadave on Jun 23, 2008 - 11 answers

A question about Presidential power -- specifically, for the implementation of carbon reduction initiatives including a cap-and-trade system. [more inside]
posted by dondiego87 on Nov 18, 2007 - 12 answers

[NYCFilter] What steps has NYC taken to deal with vermin? And what isn't it doing that it could? [more inside]
posted by Drohan on Nov 6, 2007 - 2 answers

I work for the government of a small developing country, and we are looking at making all of our legislation freely available on the internet. We hope to be able to obtain the services of a virtual volunteer to do the web design and setup for us for free, but I need help in getting clear in my own mind exactly what it is we will be asking our volunteer to do for us. [more inside]
posted by Tawita on Feb 26, 2007 - 8 answers

I was recently having a discussion with someone about whether an individual can influence the passage of legislation, by making campaign donations, in the same way that we know corporations do. It seems unlikely, to me, that individual donations would be as effective as corporate donations. But I have a few questions about this. [more inside]
posted by jayder on Feb 14, 2007 - 16 answers

Is there a really good schedule for upcoming activities in the U.S. Senate available online? [more inside]
posted by fugitivefromchaingang on Jan 22, 2007 - 6 answers

Help me find a quotation. I have a vague memory of a quote from a respected literary figure (perhaps Orwell) which states that the name given to a piece of legislation will always denote the opposite of the purpose of the legislation. In effect, the names of our laws are propaganda. The USA PATRIOT Act springs immediately to mind. Are you familiar with this alleged quote? Who said it and what did they say? Or did my drug-addled brain make the whole thing up?
posted by oncogenesis on Sep 21, 2006 - 3 answers

How do you track U.S. federal legislation for which bill numbers -- either of the house record (H.R.) or Senate (S.) variety -- have not yet been assigned? [more inside]
posted by shivohum on Apr 27, 2006 - 7 answers

I'm interested in getting a law passed. The details of said law are unimportant at this point. My question is where to start. How does one write legalese? Are there any sources (electronic or print) that would help or organizations that help grass roots movements?
posted by nosophoros on Oct 3, 2005 - 12 answers

LegalFilter: after reading an editorial I'm trying to decided if I should be outraged over parts of the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 or not. [more inside]
posted by sbutler on May 4, 2005 - 13 answers

I"ve been reading Free Culture and fuming about copyright law. Something's been puzzling me: why is copyright law in the E.U. even more stringent than the U.S.? The E.U.'s generally more liberal and closer to me on almost every major issue; this is a glaring exception that I can't quite figure out.
posted by Tlogmer on Mar 28, 2004 - 4 answers