Legislative Process, Second Edition

Once again, expert authors Mikva and Lane draw on their considerable experience to explore and explain the legislative institutions and processes of the United States. Legislative Process, Second Edition, offers a current and comprehensive examination about the realities of how law is made.

Here are just a few reasons why so many of your colleagues choose this distinctive casebook:

• extraordinary authorship, Abner J. Mikva is a former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, a five-term Congressman, and Counsel to the President during the Clinton Administration. Eric Lane has extensive experience with both state and local legislatures
• effective use of primary materials, including bills and statutes, committee reports and debates, legislative rules, Constitutional provisions and legislative authorities, and cases
• practical and process-oriented approach shows students what happens, plus how it happens, step-by-step
• historical focus gives context to the topics and perspective to current legislative enactments
• a statutory paperback from the same authors is also available

Completely revised for its Second Edition, the casebook now covers:

• new limits to Congress' commerce clause power
• an enhanced discussion of what documents evidence the enactment of statutory law
• the continuing debate over statutory construction
• the end of the term limit movement
• the New Lobbying Disclosure Act and campaign finance proposals
• equal protection jurisprudence to limit the reach of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
• major new cases US v. Morrison (Violence Against Women Act), Hunt v. Cromartie (voting rights), US Term Limits v. Thornton and Cook v. Gralike (congressional term limits), Colorado Federal Campaign Committee cases (limits on First Amendment), and Clinton v. New York (balanced budget bill)

PART I. Introduction: Legislatures and Statutes

• The Age of Statutes

• The Anatomy of a Statute

PART II.The Exercise of the Lawmaking Power

• The Structures and Processes of American Legislatures

• The Functions and Procedures of Legislative Committees

• The Enactment of Legislation

PART III.The Legitimizing Characteristics of American Legislatures

• Representativeness: The Electorate

• Representativeness: Elections, Qualifications, Representative Duties

• Accessibility

• Deliberateness

PART IV. Establishing the Meaning of a Statute

• An Introduction to Statutory Interpretation

• The Applicability of Plain Meaning

• Resolving Ambiguities