Legal Commentary

Lame Duck Hunting Revisited

By Jonathan H. Adler

In November I wrote a blog post critical of non-emergency lame duck Congressional sessions.  Since then, the lame duck Congressional session has been surprisingly productive.  Not only did Congress pass a tax deal, it repealed DADT, confirmed some judges and (perhaps most importantly) rejected a pork-laden spending omnibus.  That?s far better than I would have expected. But I still think non-emergency lame duck sessions are a bad idea.  Members of Congress are supposed to be accountable to voters, and it is inappropriate for those who cannot face reelection, or were defeated, to exercise such power free from political constraints.  This year?s lame-duck wasn?t so bad ? indeed, it was probably better than most regular sessions of Congress ? but I still believe the practice of non-emergency lame duck sessions is a bad one.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on December 20, 2010 (boomark / email).