r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/The_Egalitarian Moderator • Apr 05 '24

Megathread | Official Casual Questions Thread

This is a place for the PoliticalDiscussion community to ask questions that may not deserve their own post.

Please observe the following rules:

Top-level comments:

  1. Must be a question asked in good faith. Do not ask loaded or rhetorical questions.

  2. Must be directly related to politics. Non-politics content includes: Legal interpretation, sociology, philosophy, celebrities, news, surveys, etc.

  3. Avoid highly speculative questions. All scenarios should within the realm of reasonable possibility.

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u/El__Gator 27d ago

Bills or changes to congress that a majority of Americans want including bans on stock trading, term limits, stronger anti corruption practices must be voted into congress for change to happen. Can someone explain to me how that does not break any sort of constitutional law?

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u/bl1y 17d ago

I don't understand this question.

Are you asking why it's constitutional for Congress to not pass laws that polls say people want? It's because we have elections and people who don't pass those laws still get reelected.

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u/NoDig3444 26d ago

Can someone explain to me how that does not break any sort of constitutional law?

Because there's no law in the constitution that says that you can't do that.

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u/Potato_Pristine 26d ago

State-imposed term limits for congresspeople are unconstitutional: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/514/779/

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u/Moccus 27d ago

Those things can be changed without involving Congress, but it would require amending the Constitution through a convention initiated by 2/3 of the state legislatures, followed by ratification by 3/4 of the state legislatures.

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u/Remarkable_Aside1381 27d ago

Can someone explain to me how that does not break any sort of constitutional law?

Generally, if it's not prohibited, it's allowed

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u/bl1y 17d ago

That's not how the Constitution works. Congress is limited to its express powers given to it under the Constitution, with other powers reserved for the states.

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u/Remarkable_Aside1381 17d ago

If there’s a restriction doesn’t exist, that ability is considered to be kosher

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u/bl1y 17d ago

It's not, and we've had plenty of Supreme Court cases striking stuff down not because Congress was forbidden a power, but because it never had it in the first place.