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Article 1: The Legislative Branch (sections 1 and 2)Note: To conserve time and space I will not include the entire text of the various articles, only material to illustrate points taken. I?m sure anyone interested can get a copy of the document and follow along if necessary. Basically what follows is the nickel tour. Section 1: Grants legislative power to the Congress; Congress is defined as two chambers the Senate and the House of Representatives. Section 2: [the House] 1. ??Members chosen ever second year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each state shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.? Establishes that the members of the house are chosen by the voters of the state; qualifications to vote, established as those who could vote in state elections. Appears to follow the line that the people elect the lower house of the legislature, is logical as it parallels the British system. 2. Establishes qualifications as the following: 25 YOA, US citizen for 7 years, resident of the state represented. 3. Establishes division of representatives among states: based on population. At the time the constitution was written Native Americans were not citizens and were not counted toward the total population of a state, the issue of slaves was handled by the 3/5 Compromise? 3/5 of the slave population was counted toward the total for representation. (While the South wanted all counted they settled for this as considering slaves were property they had a potential tax liability with the South wanted to avoid if possible). The census was established to enumerate the population each 10 years (since 1790) to allow for the correct number of reps per state. Currently (based on the 2000 census) each Congressional district has something over 640K people, each state gets at least one Congressional seat (of the 435, see map attached) and there are six non-voting delegations: American Samoa District of Columbia Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico United States Virgin Islands 4. Vacancies are filled by special elections called by the governor of the state involved. 5. The Speaker of the House is the leader of the majority party and chooses the heads of the various committees. The House has the power to Impeach (indict or bring charges against officials). More on impeachment in Section 3: The Senate (coming soon).
Article 1: The Legislative BranchSection 3: [the Senate] 1. Sets down the number, method of selection, term of office, etc.: 2 Senators from each state, originally chose by the legislature of the state concerned, by voters the since the 17th Amendment, serve 6 year terms, each has one vote. 2. Elections and vacancies: 1/3 of the Senate is elected every two years (terms of the first Senate were staggered), 17th Amendment also altered the filling of senate vacancies: State must hold a special election to fill the vacancy, the state may empower the governor to appoint someone to serve until an election may be held.[Think Kennedy seat here.] 3. Qualifications: Establishes qualifications as the following: 30 YOA, US citizen for 9 years, resident of the state represented. [Idea here is that the Senate would be a bit more elite a body and would tend to provide a check on the power of the House.] 4. President of the Senate: The Vice-President; his only duty actually mentioned in the Constitution is to be the presiding officer of the Senate and his only power is to vote in case of a tie. Modern VP?s have an a extended role that varies according to the direction given them by the President. [ex-offico capacity] 5. Other Officers: The Senate chooses their own officers? President Pro Tempore: Ranking member of the majority party (by custom), presides over the Senate in the absence of the VP. If absent post is delegated to a junior member of the majority as a training session. Other Senate officers include the chairs of the various committees, the Secretary, Sergeant at Arms, Chaplain, Parliamentarian, Curator, Historian, and Librarian. Each party also elects within its ranks various officers. 6. Trial of Impeachments: When and if, the House passes a Bill of Impeachment against a Constitutional Officer, the Senate acts as the Court to hear the case. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court acts as the judge when the President is impeached, otherwise the VP would preside and the Senators the jury. It takes a 2/3 vote (of those present) to convict. Cases of note: Three of some interest are outlined below, Andrew Johnson; impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act (later ruled unconstitutional). The vote was 35-19 to remove him but fell 1 vote short of the required 2/3 majority. Richard Nixon; was never impeached, as he resigned before a Bill of Impeachment could be passed against him. Bill Clinton; impeached for on two items perjury and obstruction of justice, both on slim House votes. The Senate voted 45-55 to remove on one charge and 50-50 on the other? both far short of the 2/3 majority required to remove him from office. 7. Penalty for Conviction: An official convicted may only be removed from office and barred from holding another federal position. Criminal charges still may be sought against the convicted official but that is not part of the Impeachment process or a role of the Senate. Coming soon: Section 4; Elections and Meetings [of Congress]
Section 4: Elections and Meetings 1. Time, place, and manner of elections were originally set by the Legislature of the various States? in 1842 Congress required that the representation be from districts within states having more than one Congressional seat (rather than at large)? allowable since Section 1 also states that ?? Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of Chusing [sic] Senators.? Congress selected the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the day to pick presidential electors, in 1845. 2. Congress shall assemble at least once every year; originally the first Monday in December (unless they, by Law, picked another day)? since modified (by 20th Amendment) to the 3rd of January… usually unless the 3rd falls on Sunday.Section 5: Procedure 1. Organization? a) Until 1969 Congress was the sole judge of the qualifications of its members (changed by Supreme Court ruling to the effect that any person that met the qualifications in Art. 1 Sec. 2 could not be excluded). b) A majority of members must be present to do business: 218 for the house, 51 for the Senate; rules of each house assume a quorum unless a quorum call (seldom made) demonstrates the contrary. 2. Rules? Each house sets its own rules and can punish or expel its own members by a 2/3 vote. 3) Journals? Each house must keep a record of all business, floor discussions, votes and roll calls, to be made available by way of the Congressional Record (published daily by the Government Printing Office. 4) Adjournments? During a Congressional Session neither house may adjourn for more than three days nor move to another location without the approval of the other house.Coming soon: Section 6: Privileges and Restrictions
Section 6: Privileges and Restrictions 1. To help strengthen the federal gov?t. the members of Congress were to be paid by the US Treasury rather than their respective states. They were originally paid $6.00 per day; in 1815 the salary became $1500.00 per year. As of Jan. 2010, rank and file members earned (!?!) $174K? Speaker Pelosi gets $223.5K and the minority and majority leaders in both houses and the Pres Pro Tem of the Senate get $193.4K. This doesn?t consider retirement, staff allowances, expense allowances, franking privilege, travel allowances (domestic and foreign) nor the ability to earn (up to 15% of their member pay) outside income? some restrictions apply.The average American makes about $37K according to Ask.com. Except for ?Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace?? members have immunity from arrest while Congress is in session and may not be sued or prosecuted for anything they say in Congress. 2. Members may not pass laws that will benefit them personally nor can they remain members of Congress and hold other offices in the gov?t. They cannot enact raises without an election between passage of the bill and the raise.
