The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution: A Reader\u27s Guide

Historic overview and analysis of presidential succession coupled with findings of the law clinic

From the Rule of Law to the Law of Rules:The Dynamics of Transnational Governance and Their Local Impact

Globalization can be read as consequential reordering, where national rules of law increasingly have to confront the progress of a transnational law of rules. We use conceptual building blocks from political science and sociological institutionalism to approach two sets of issues. First, we explore the nature of this consequential reordering and some of its structuring dynamics. We underscore some of the key features of the emergent transnational law of rules system and contrast it with more traditional, nationally bound, rule of law systems. Second, we consider the potential local, or national, impact of such profound reordering. In the conclusion, we identify key channels and mechanisms of impact as well as potential sources of resistance or of local adaptation. An exploration of those early propositions would be useful to both scholars and practitioners as it would make it possible to read, understand, and even anticipate the variability of cases and situations

Natural Law as Professional Ethics: A Reading of Fuller

In Plato\u27s Laws, the Athenian Stranger claims that the gods will smile only on a city where the law is despot over the rulers and the rulers are slaves of the law. This passage is the origin of the slogan the rule of law not of men, an abbreviation of which forms our phrase the rule of law. From Plato and Aristotle, through John Adams and John Marshall, down to us, no idea has proven more central to Western political and legal culture. Yet the slogan turns on a very dubious metaphor. Laws do not rule, and the rule of law not of men is actually a specific form of rule by men (including, nowadays, a few women). These rulers are not slaves to anything. Furthermore, the construction of the slogan -rule of law and not of men-has unfortunate connotations. It suggests that the personal qualities of the human rulers required to secure the rule of law are nothing more than forbearance and disinterestedness-a resolution to stay out of law\u27s way. What if the rule of law is more demanding than this? What if it turns out to be a particularly elaborate and technically ingenious form of the rule of (let me say) men and women? What if the rule of law establishes a moral relationship between those who govern and those whom they govern? Furthermore, what if sustaining this relationship requires certain moral attitudes and virtues on the part of the governors that are not simply disinterested forbearance, and not simply the moral attitudes and virtues required of everyone

Planning for Emerging Threats: Rethinking the Presidential Line of Succession

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the Ukraine war, recent events have highlighted possible threats to the continuity of presidential leadership. The presidential line of succession in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 has several flaws. Some of the successors it designates might be ill-suited to discharge the powers of the presidency. Others concerns include its constitutionality, inappropriate incentives it might create, and the democratic legitimacy of outcomes it might produce. This report proposes several reforms to the line of succession for pre- and post-inaugural succession contingencies.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/rule_of_law_clinic/1002/thumbnail.jp

Rule of law and institutional legitimacy : challenges of transition, challenges of Europe

Recent European events have revealed that some EU Member States, including some South Eastern European (see) States, still struggle with the rule of law. While certain rule of law challenges may be due to past legacies and insufficient (or insufficiently successful) transitions, others may be the result of the transition itself and of contemporary socio-economic problems that are experienced across Europe. This article will address the state of the rule of law in see, reflecting first on some pre-, mid-, and post-transition problems relevant for the rule of law in these countries. Next, it will address the legal and socio-psychological impact of the challenges posed by the mentioned problems, connecting the (mis) trust that can be observed on several levels (internally and externally) with the rule of law, thus demonstrating that mistrust as such has social as well as legal consequences. If trust (e.g. in the effectiveness of the rule of law safeguards or in those who are entrusted with safeguarding it) is lacking, this represents a problem not only for the Member State (e.g. for the functioning and perceived legitimacy of its judicial system) in question, but also for the EU (e.g. for the judicial cooperation in criminal matters). Lastly, the article will examine the EU'S perspective on rule of law, drawing on the recent EU Framework to Strengthen the Rule of Law, which aims to ensure an effective and coherent protection of the rule of law in all Member States, as well as on some other EU documents that may, in our view, help address the current challenges in European rule of law

Promoting the Rule of Law: Cooperation and Competition in the EU-US Relationship

Both the United States and the European Union fund programs designed to develop the rule of law in transition countries. Despite significant expenditures in this area, however, neither has developed either a clear definition of what is meant by the rule of law or a catalogue of programs that can result in coordination of rule of law efforts. This article is the result of a presentation at a May 2010 policy conference at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, at which U.S. and EU government officials, scholars, and practitioners discussed the concept of rule of law and efforts to implement rule of law in transition countries. It introduces the issues discussed at the conference, summarizes the results, and introduces four articles resulting from the conference that are published in the same issue of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review

Ensuring Continuity of Congress

Throughout its history, the U.S. Congress has had several brushes with catastrophe that threatened to prevent it from functioning or to change its balance of power. This report advances reforms to ensure that Congress can continue functioning if many of its members die or become incapacitated or if lawmakers\u27 ability to meet at the Capitol is challenged. It recommends procedures for (1) rapidly replacing members of Congress in the event of mass death or incapacity; (2) declaring members of Congress incapacitated during an emergency; and (3) implementing emergency protocols.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/rule_of_law_clinic/1001/thumbnail.jp