Tatter - Episodes Tagged with “Congress”

Episode 67: Metastasis (Impeachment, w/ Frank Bowman)

Michael Sargent — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 07:00:00 -0500

The U.S. House has impeached President Donald Trump, for an unprecedented second time. This time, a majority of members of Congress endorsed a single article of impeachment for "incitement of insurrection," based on Trump's urging a crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol where both houses of Congress were meeting to count electoral votes, urging the crowd to go pressure members of Congress to overturn the results in key states that Trump lost. Once the House officially transmits the article of impeachment to the Senate, they will be able to conduct a trial, which could result in conviction and disqualification of Trump from federal office in the future, ensuring he could not be President ever again.

I spoke with an expert on impeachment, Frank O. Bowman, III, the Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, at the University of Missouri School of Law. He has many areas of expertise, including legal history and the impeachment of the President and other federal officers. We discussed the history of impeachment, his thoughts on the strengths and shortcomings of the single article of impeachment, as well as where blame lies surrounding the riot at the Capitol on January 6.

LINKS
--Frank Bowman University of Missouri web profile
--High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump, by Frank O. Bowman, III
--"Impeachable offenses: Examining the case for removal of the 45th President of the United States" (Bowman's blog)
--"The constitutional case for impeaching Donald Trump (again)," by Frank O. Bowman, III (in Just Security)
--Text of the impeachment resolution approved by the U.S. House on January 13, 2021

Special Guest: Frank Bowman.

Episode 66: Conviction (Impeachment Politics, w/ Sarah Binder)

Michael Sargent — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 06:00:00 -0500

In the wake of the violence and destruction resulting from mob action in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and given that many view President Donald Trump's public comments beforehand as inciting the mob's action, House Democrats have presented a single article of impeachment with a vote likely imminent. If this happens, Trump would be the first U.S. president impeached twice. I recently spoke with Sarah Binder, Professor of Political Science at The George Washington University, and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, speaking with her about impeachment politics, as well as things to watch as Democrats prepare to regain control of the Senate, albeit by the thinnest of margins.

LINKS
--Binder's GWU profile
--Binder's Brookings profile
--"What to expect when Congress counts the electoral college votes on Wednesday," by Sarah Binder (Washington Post's Monkey Cage, January 4, 2021)
--"Impeachment resolution cites Trump's 'incitement' of Capitol insurrection," Brian Naylor (NPR, January 11, 2021)
--"Impeachment lessons: Where has deliberation gone?" Sarah A. Binder & Steven S. Smith (Brookings, December 13, 1998)
--"We're on the road to impeachment. Here's what you need to know about what's ahead," Sarah Binder (Washington Post's Monkey Cage, December 12, 2019)

Special Guest: Sarah Binder.

Episode 44: Interim Ad Infinitum (On The Use and Abuse of Presidential Appointment Power)

Michael Sargent — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 07:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Steve Vladeck is the A. Dalton Cross Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law. He's also a prolific writer and CNN's Supreme Court analyst, and he's argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. He joined me to discuss the President's power to appoint individuals in an acting capacity in senior positions. This is a power that can be abused--and some would argue has been abused by President Trump. We discuss the power, and possible reforms that could limit abuse.

LINKS
Steve Vladeck's UT-Austin profile
"Trump is abusing his authority to name 'acting secretaries': Here's how Congress can stop him." (by Vladeck, for Slate)
"Trump relies on acting Cabinet officials more than most presidents. It's not an accident." (by Phillip Bump, for the Washington Post)
"How America got to 'zero tolerance' on immigration: The inside story," (by Jason Zengerle, for the New York Times)
"Supreme Court rules against Apple, as Kavanaugh sides with liberal Justices." (by Bill Chappell, for National Public Radio)
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act

Special Guest: Stephen Vladeck.

Episode 40: Up That Hill (Women in Congress)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 06 May 2019 05:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
As reported by the Pew Reserach Center, the current 116th Congress includes more women, and is more racially and ethnically diverse, than any previous Congress. Inspired by that shift, this episode features my conversation with political scientists Nadia Brown (Purdue University) and Barbara Palmer (Baldwin Wallace University). We discuss the experiences of women in Congress, including women of color, both in their campaigns but also while governing, and from both contemporary and historical perspective.

LINKS
--Nadia Brown's Purdue University profile
--Barbara Palmer's Baldwin Wallace University profile
--Sisters in the Statehouse: Black Women and Legislative Decision Making, by Nadia Brown (at Amazon)
--Women and Congressional Elections: A Century of Change, by Barbara Palmer and Dennis Simon (at Amazon)
--"Identity Politics Strengthens Democracy," by Stacey Abrams, in Foreign Affairs
--On Elizabeth Cady Stanton's congressional run
--"At She the People Forum, 2020 Candidates Speak Directly to Women of Color, by Maggie Astor, for the New York Times
--Wiki on Maria Stewart
--"Eric Holder to Lead Democrats' Attack on Republican Gerrymandering, by Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin, for the New York Times
--Barbara Palmer on "gendermandering"

Special Guests: Barbara Palmer and Nadia Brown.