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A Constitutional Newsman's Privilege

Description: This report outlines the constitutional privilege of journalists to refuse questioning by a grand jury in a court of law.
Date: December 28, 1970
Creator: Killian, Johnny H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Presidential Tenure: A History and Examination of the President's Term of Office

Description: This report summarizes the ongoing debate on presidential tenure, mainly concerning proposed amendments for a six-year presidential term. In addition, the author presents arguments both for and against a six-year presidential term.
Date: December 31, 1974
Creator: Dwyer, Paul
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Amendment Process in the Committee of the Whole

Description: This report describes the amendment process in the Committee of the Whole, including reading, debating, amendment trees, and voting.
Date: December 8, 2006
Creator: Schneider, Judy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Constitutionality of a Senate Filibuster of a Judicial Nomination

Description: This report provides an overview of the major issues which have been raised recently in the Senate regarding the Judicial Nominations, Filibusters, and the Constitution: When a Majority Is Denied Its Right to Consent and in the press concerning the constitutionality of a Senate filibuster (i.e., extended debate) of a judicial nomination.
Date: December 6, 2004
Creator: Shampansky, Jay R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Amendment Process in the Committee of the Whole

Description: This report describes the amendment process in the Committee of the Whole, including reading for an amendment, debating, amendment trees, and voting.
Date: December 8, 2004
Creator: Schneider, Judy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Campaign Finance: Constitutional and Legal Issues of Soft Money

Description: As in the 105th Congress, many of the 106th Congress bills focus on political party soft money--subjecting contributions, expenditures, or transfers of national political parties to the limitations, prohibitions and reporting requirements of the FECA. Other bills would restrict corporate and labor union soft money. Another major reform proposal would subject certain types of advocacy communications to FECA regulation, either fully or just insofar as disclosure requirements.
Date: December 11, 2000
Creator: Whitaker, L. Paige
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Campaign Finance: Constitutional and Legal Issues of Soft Money

Description: Soft money is a major issue in the campaign finance reform debate because these generally unregulated funds are perceived as resulting from a loophole in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Generally, soft money is funds that are raised and spent according to applicable state laws, which FECA prohibits from being spent directly on federal elections, but that may have an indirect influence on federal elections. This Issue Brief discusses three major types of soft money: political party sof… more
Date: December 19, 2002
Creator: Whitaker, L. Paige
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment

Description: This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment — of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.
Date: December 7, 2004
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Understanding the Speech or Debate Clause

Description: This report discusses the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Various views have been expressed by different court rulings and the disagreement between courts is also discussed.
Date: December 1, 2017
Creator: Garvey, Todd
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Excited Utterances, "Testimonial" Statements, and the Confrontation Clause

Description: The United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument this term in appeals from two state supreme court cases, Hammon v. Indiana and Davis v. Washington, concerning the admissibility of “excited utterance” statements made by non-testifying witnesses at criminal trials. In the landmark Crawford v. Washington case in 2004, the Court held that the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause forbids hearsay “testimonial” evidence from being introduced against the accused unless the witness is unavaila… more
Date: December 14, 2005
Creator: Yeh, Brian T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The European Union’s Constitution

Description: This report provides background information on the constitution, its key provisions, the current crisis, and possible implications for U.S. - EU relations.
Date: December 27, 2005
Creator: Archick, Kristin
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Assault Weapons Ban: Review of Federal Laws Controlling Possessions of Certain Firearms

Description: This report reviews the 1994 assault weapons ban, which is effective for ten years on 19 types of semiautomatic assault weapons. The Act builds upon a 60-year history of federal regulation of firearms. The report also summarizes the pre-1994 federal gun control laws, analyzes the major cases relating to constitutional and statutory challenges to these laws, and reviews judicial and legislative developments since enactment of the ban.
Date: December 1, 1995
Creator: Schrader, Dorothy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Presidential Succession: A Recurrent Problem

Description: This report discusses the frequent problem is that of designating "what officer" shall act as president in the case of President and Vice president Succession and discusses various constitutional acts.
Date: December 9, 1963
Creator: Celada, Raymond J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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