Tagged Questions
10
votes
1answer
123 views
Was the State of Indiana's legislation changed to fix the value of Pi?
Is the following an anecdote?
Mathematicians describe Pi as an irrational number, that is, a number that cannot be expressed as the ratio of any two integers. This was an irksome fact to the State ...
4
votes
3answers
97 views
Did any of the US States ever attempt to secede, aside from American Civil War times?
Reading about the non-governmental organizations in support of the Texas secession movement, I've started to think if there were any States where such movements achieved something more.
My questions ...
2
votes
1answer
60 views
What does 'trade in' mean in this article on the Westway project?
A little background so you know where we are at. I'm doing a paper concerning the Westway project* specifically the period immediately before the collapse of the project in which hundreds of ...
5
votes
3answers
187 views
How compare the rights and conditions of the American slaves to those of Russian serfs?
How compare the rights and conditions of the 19-th century American slaves to those of the 19-th century Russian serfs?
4
votes
2answers
66 views
Georgia's Ruling by O. Henry
O. Henry's 1900 story, "Georgia's Ruling", http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/ohenry/bl-ohenry-georgia.htm describes a dire social problem related to the USA land laws and the "land ...
6
votes
5answers
265 views
In the United States government, has there been cases that electoral colleges don't vote for the candidate the majority of their state voted for?
Has there ever been a case where electoral colleges vote for someone the people didn't vote for during an election for president of the United States?
2
votes
1answer
30 views
When was federal sovereign immunity in the U.S. established?
Lawsuits against the federal government can be dismissed under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. For example, Al Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Obama was recently dismissed (Appeals court dismisses ...
4
votes
1answer
55 views
President proposes bills: provenance
The President of the United States sends proposed bills to members of Congress, that they may introduce the bills on his behalf. There's no provision for this in the Constitution (AFAICT).
What was ...
10
votes
1answer
136 views
Were mattress labels inspired by public outcry?
If you're an American consumer, you likely know the "mattress tag", labels attached to mattresses, pillows, stuffed animals, and pet beds, which often begin "This tag may not be removed under penalty ...
3
votes
5answers
158 views
How Did The US Justice System Lose Sight of Intent?
In the USA all that seems to matter is the letter of the law. This example demonstrates how a US law is being used for things it was never intended.
The British Justice System places a huge emphasis ...
2
votes
3answers
768 views
Has the US Congress ever repealed a law?
Has the United States Congress ever repealed legislation, rather than amend the legislation or let the legislation be annulled by the Supreme Court?
It seems to me that once a law is passed it ...
22
votes
7answers
3k views
Was the secession of the Confederate states illegal?
Putting aside their reasons for wanting to do so and all the emotional responses they would provoke, was the secession of states from the Union to eventually form the Confederacy an illegal act in ...
3
votes
1answer
133 views
United States Incarceration Rate
How many people were sentenced to prison in 2011 in the United States? This statistic is hard to come by online. The only measured incarceration rate I've come across is the amount of people ...
7
votes
1answer
102 views
Why did the states that were born out of the Louisiana purchase adopt a common law system, and not a civil law system?
The French system of laws is a civil law system that is based upon the Napoleonic Code, and further back the Justinian Code. The legal system in Louisiana is now bijuridicial retaining some of the ...
9
votes
2answers
139 views
Why did the political parties in the US give up power to run primary elections to some states?
In the US, it seems that in certain states, the political parties have allowed the state to prescribe the manner in which delegates are selected to the party's national convention. This includes ...
4
votes
1answer
80 views
Why are lower court jurists, judges, and supreme court jurists, justices?
I cannot find any information explaining why judges that sit on a Supreme Court are referred to as "justices," and judges that sit on a lower court are "judges." Everything I've found seems to ...
15
votes
3answers
242 views
What were the reasons for making Prohibition a constitutional amendment?
What were the reasons that the Prohibition in the United States was passed as a constitutional amendment, rather than a normal federal law, or a set of state laws?
6
votes
3answers
119 views
Were there any political checks on the U.S. executive during their covert support of the military junta of Pinochet?
U.S. secretary of state Kissinger- with the support of the executive- actively supported the overthrow of Chilean president Allende in favor of the military dictatorship of Pinochet. After the fact, ...
