Interpreting Government Practices, Part 1 (LAW-CONST2)

Britain has a constitution too, just not a written one. Akhil Reed Amar uses that comparison to show how unwritten practice fills the gaps in America's terse text.

This lecture examines how government is actually constituted where Article I and III run thin. Amar details Congress's inherent powers of oversight, subpoena, and contempt, including the founding-era case of Robert Randall, whom the House itself arrested, tried, and jailed, later upheld in Anderson v. Dunn. He also works through recess appointments to the judiciary and the puzzle of how a new House organizes itself every two years.