Congressional Research Service Reports - 780 Matching Results
Search Results
- Constitutionality of Requiring Sexually Explicit Material on the Internet to be Under a Separate Domain Name
- It is unclear whether making a “.xxx” domain mandatory would violate the First Amendment. Some propose making use of a “.xxx” domain voluntary, but others propose that Congress make it mandatory. The latter proposal raises the question whether a mandatory separate domain would violate the First Amendment, and this report focuses on that question.
- The Law of the Sea Convention and U.S. Policy
- This report provides an overview of the law of the sea convention and U.S. policy.
- Federal Statutes: What They Are and Where to Find Them
- This report provides a brief overview of federal statutes and where to find them, both in print and on the Internet.
- The Unborn Victims of Violence Act
- This report examines the act's provisions, and reviews existing state laws that criminalize the killing of a fetus or unborn child. The report also discusses selected cases that have considered the legitimacy of state fetal homicide and unborn child homicide statutes.
- International Law and Agreements: Their Effect upon U.S. Law
- This report provides an introduction to the roles that international law and agreements play in the United States. The report discusses forms of international agreements and the effects of international agreements on U.S. law.
- International Law and Agreements: Their Effect Upon U.S. Law
- This report provides an introduction to the roles that international law and agreements play in the United States. International law is derived from two primary sources--international agreements and customary practice. Under the U.S. legal system, international agreements can be entered into by means of a treaty or an executive agreement. The Constitution allocates primary responsibility for entering into such agreements to the executive branch, but Congress also plays an essential role.
- Merger and Antitrust Issues in Agriculture
- A sustained period of low farm prices has generated legislative interest in the effect of concentration and consolidation on U.S. agriculture. Questions have been raised about the federal government's role in pursuing cases of unfair competition or violations of antitrust laws. Legislative interest has risen because, while regulations target business practices, important issues associated with concentration and consolidation may not be adequately addressed by existing antitrust laws. Recent reviews by Congress have dealt with issues such as: (1) the adequacy and employment of existing federal antitrust statutes to protect farmers against anti-competitive practices; (2) the extent to which mergers influence farm prices and their impact on farmers and consumers, and (3) the appropriate role of the federal government in regulating agroindustry. This report briefly describes the federal statutes and agencies involved in antitrust regulation and reviews proposals offered in the 106th Congress to restrict mergers in agriculture.
- Merger and Antitrust Issues in Agriculture: Statutes and Agencies
- No Description Available.
- Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Enforcement: Legal Issues
- This report begins by discussing the sources of federal power to regulate immigration and, particularly, the allocation of power between Congress and the President in this area. It next addresses the constitutional and other foundations for the doctrine of prosecutorial discretion, as well as the potential ways in which prosecutorial discretion may be exercised in the immigration context. It concludes by addressing potential constitutional, statutory, and administrative constraints upon the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
- Medical Malpractice Liability Reform: Legal Issues and Fifty-State Survey of Caps on Punitive Damages and Noneconomic Damages
- No Description Available.
- Judicial Salary-Setting Policy
- No Description Available.
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements and Semiconductor Technology: Issues Involving the “DOE-Intel CRADA"
- This report provides information on the federal interest in cooperation R&D and the laws that shape such efforts.
- General Overview of United States Antitrust Law
- This report presents brief summaries of (1) the primary United States antitrust statutes, and (2) some of the activities which are generally considered to be violations of those laws. There is also some reference to the prohibition against unfair competition and the "unfairness" jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). There is not, however, any discussion of the extraterritorial reach of the United States antitrust laws. Further, the laws whose descriptions follow do not constitute all of the statutes which are applicable to antitrust issues, but rather, constitute those which are most often utilized.
- Energy and Water Development: FY2010 Appropriations
- This report discusses the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill that provides funding for civil works projects of the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), for the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the Department of Energy (DOE), and several independent agencies.
- Employer Liability Provisions in Selected Patient Protection Bills
- In the various patient protection bills introduced in the 106th (H.R. 5628, S.Amdt. 3694, H.R. 2990) and to date in the 107th (H.R. 526, H.R. 2315, H.R. 2563, S. 889, S. 1052), Congress has attempted to address the issue of employer liability by limiting liability to certain persons or circumstances. This report provides an overview of the employer liability provisions of selected bills from the 106th and 107th Congress.
- Partial-Birth Abortion: Recent Developments in the Law
- No Description Available.
- Partial-Birth Abortion: Recent Developments in the Law
- No Description Available.
- Iraq: Elections, Government, and Constitution
- This report is regarding the Elections, Government, and constitutions of Iraq.
- Trends in Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement
- This report provides an overview of recent trends in the enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the principal U.S. anti-money laundering law regulating financial institutions. The report begins by providing general background information on BSA penalties and enforcement. The report concludes by discussing three recent trends that commentators have observed in BSA enforcement: (1) an increase in the frequency with which BSA enforcement actions involve an assessment of money penalties, and an increase in the size of those penalties, (2) an increased emphasis by regulators on the acceptance of responsibility by institutions entering into settlement agreements for BSA violations, and (3) an increased risk of individual liability for BSA violations.
- Conducting Foreign Relations Without Authority: The Logan Act
- This report discusses the Logan Act, which was intended to prohibit United States citizens without authority from interfering in relations between the United States and foreign governments.
- Comparison of California's Financial Information Privacy Act of 2003 with Federal Privacy Provisions
- The California Financial Information Privacy Act,1 enacted on August 28, 2003, and effective on July 1, 2004, governs the rights of California residents with respect to the dissemination of nonpublic personal information by financial institutions. In some respects, it diverges from two federal laws that impose restrictions on the dissemination of nonpublic personally identifiable customer information by financial information.
- The Budget Enforcement Act of 1997: A Fact Sheet
- This is a report n the Budget Enforcement Act of 1997: the fact sheet.
- Federal Statutes: What They Are and Where to Find Them
- This report provides a brief overview of Federal statutes and where to find them, both in hard copy and on the Internet. After providing an overview on the basics of Federal statutes, this report gives guidance on where Federal statutes, in their various forms, may be located on the Internet, where they are most readily accessible.
- Abortion Law Development: A Brief Overview
- This report offers an overview of the development of abortion law from 1973 to the present. Beginning with a brief discussion of the historical background, the report analyzes the leading Supreme Court decisions over the past twenty-eight years, emphasizing particularly the landmark decisions in Roe and Doe, the Court’s shift in direction in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, and the Court’s most recent decision on abortion, Stenberg v. Carhart. The Court’s decisions on the constitutionality of restricting public funding for abortion are also discussed.
- Major Decisions in the House and Senate on Social Security: 1935-2011
- This report is intended to respond to the many inquiries that CRS gets for Social Security vote information, which range from requests for general information about legislative action over the years to requests for information about specific floor amendments. Thus, it is intended to be a reference document on the major statutory decisions made by Congress on the Social Security program. A detailed table of contents and a summary table of the legislation discussed are provided to aid the reader.
- War On Drugs: Legislation in the 108th Congress and Related Developments
- This report covers significant legislative and oversight activities of the 108th Congress that concern domestic law enforcement aspects of federal anti-drug policy. It also includes an overview of significant executive branch actions and other current developments of likely interest to the congressional audience that follows this issue.
- The Prescription Drug Import Provisions of the FY2001 Agriculture Appropriations Act, P.L. 106-387
- No Description Available.
- Capital Punishment: An Overview of Federal Death Penalty Statutes
- With the passage of P.L. 103-322, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the federal death penalty became available as a possible punishment for a substantial number of new and existing civilian offenses. On April 24, 1996, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 made further modifications and additions to the list of federal capital crimes. On June 25, 2002, P.L. 107-197, the Terrorist Bombings Convention Implementation Act of 2002, added another capital crime to the United States Code. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, P.L. 108-458, enacted December 17, 2004, included provisions which impacted or expanded some of the existing death penalty provisions. This report lists the current federal capital offenses and summarizes the procedures for federal civilian death penalty cases.
- Unauthorized Alien Students: Issues and “DREAM Act” Legislation
- This report examines the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or the DREAM Act. The bills were introduced in the 109th Congress, one of which was incorporated into the immigration reform bill passed by the Senate. A key issues in the current debate about immigration reform is how to address the resident unauthorized alien population.
- President Obama’s January 4, 2012, Recess Appointments: Legal Issues
- This report analyzes the legal issues associated with the President's asserted exercise of his Recess Appointments Clause power on January 4, 2012. The report begins with a general legal overview of the Recess Appointment Clause. This is followed by an analysis of two legal principles, standing and the political question doctrine, which may impede a reviewing court from reaching the merits of a potential legal challenge to the appointments.
- Clean Water Act Issues in the 109th Congress
- This report discusses various issues in the 109th Congress pertaining to water infrastructure and water quality standards. Legislative initiatives to comprehensively amend the Clean Water Act (CWA) have stalled for some time as interested parties have debated whether and exactly how to change the law. Congress has recently focused legislative attention on narrow bills to extend or modify selected CWA programs, rather than taking up comprehensive proposals.
- The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Background and Issues
- No Description Available.
- The Environmental Opinions of Judge Samuel Alito
- This report is based on a review of all the reported environmental decisions of the Third Circuit in which Judge Alito was on the three-judge panel that initially decided the case, or in the en banc group of judges that heard the case on review of the panel decision. It does not confine itself, as did the recently reported Washington Post study, to Third Circuit opinions in which there was a dissent.2 We construe “environmental” broadly to include insurance coverage, Fourth Amendment, and other issues arising in an environmental context — and included 34 decisions in our review.
- Administration’s Proposal to Reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: Comparison to Current Law
- This report discusses the challenges and consequences of reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Moreover, the report outlines the Department of Education's (ED) ideas for reform in the reauthorization. Finally, the reforms are compared to the current policy the ESEA possesses.
- Treatment of "Battlefield Detainees" in the War on Terrorism
- No Description Available.
- Spyware: Background and Policy Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Legislation in the 109th Congress
- This report reviews the status of energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation introduced during the 109th Congress. Action in the second session has focused on appropriations bills; the first session focused on omnibus energy policy bill H.R. 6 and several appropriations bills. this report describes several major pieces of legislation, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Transportation Equity Act. For each bill listed in this report, a brief description and a summary of action are given, including references to committee hearings and reports. Also, a selected list of hearings on renewable energy is included.
- An Overview of Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas: Resources and Federal Actions
- This report focuses on the growth in U.S. oil and natural gas production driven primarily by tight oil formations and shale gas formations. It also reviews selected federal environmental regulatory and research initiatives related to unconventional oil and gas extraction, including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed hydraulic fracturing rule and EPA actions.
- Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS): Current Legislative Issues
- This report provides an overview and analysis of issues Congress might consider if it chooses to take up legislation to reauthorize the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.
- Federal Employees' Retirement System: Benefits and Financing
- This report discusses the retirement systems in place for federal employees including the Civil Service Retirement System (for employees hired before 1984) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (for employees hired in 1984 or later). Both programs require participants to contribute toward the cost of their pensions through a payroll tax. This report also summarizes relevant legislation in the 113th Congress that would make significant changes to federal benefits and financing, including H.J.Res. 59, S. 18, S. 1678, and H.R. 3639.
- Border Security: The Complexity of the Challenge
- This report is the first in three-part series of CRS reports that make use of analytical frameworks to better understand complex problems in border security and cast them in terms that facilitate the consideration of alternative policies and practices.
- Copyright Law: Digital Rights Management Legislation in the 107th and 108th Congresses
- Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology that copyright owners use to protect digital media. This report surveys several of the DRM bills that were introduced in the 107th and 108th Congresses. Generally, the bills are directed at two separate goals. One goal is to increase access to digitally-protected media for lawful purposes. The other attempts to thwart digital piracy and would do so by enhancing civil and criminal sanctions for digital (and traditional) copyright infringement and educating the public about the rights of copyright holders.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Statutory Language and Recent Issues
- This report summarizes the major provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and also discusses selected recent issues, including ten ADA Supreme Court cases.
- Pension Reform: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001
- No Description Available.
- Energy Provisions of the Farm Bill: Comparison of the New Law with Previous Law and House and Senate Bills
- This report provides a side-by-side comparison of the energy provisions of the new law with previously existing law, as well as the versions engrossed by the House and Senate in the 107th Congress. While the energy provisions in the House version were spread throughout the bill, the Senate version consolidated most of its energy provisions into Title IX - Energy. Both bills provided for the use of reserve land for renewable energy production. The House version also allowed for loans to farmers in response to high energy prices, while the Senate version did not.
- Congressional Ethics in the 98th Congress
- This report describes Congressional Ethics in the 98th Congress.
- United States Policy Toward Cambodia since March 1970: Statements by President Nixon, Secretary of State Rogers, Secretary of Defense Laird.
- This report includes Statements by President Nixon, Secretary of State Rogers, Secretary of Defense Laird of United States Policy Toward Cambodia since March 1970.
- Voting in the House of Representatives when resolved into the Committee of the Whole
- This report describes the Voting in the House of Representatives when resolved into the Committee of the Whole.
- West European Communist Parties in 1977, An Analysis and Chronology of Developments.
- This report is an An Analysis and Chronology of Developments of West European Communist Parties in 1977.
- Appropriations for FY1999: Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies
- This report tracks action by the 105th Congress on FY1999 appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and other related agencies.