Separation of Powers

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Politics This Week: Fraudulent Faces in RI Government

By Justin Katz | May 6, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the costliness of Rhode Island government’s decisions.

Things We Read Today, 8

By Justin Katz | September 11, 2012 |

Today: September 11, global change, evolution, economics, 17th amendment, gold standard, and a boughten electorate… all to a purpose.

Robert Flanders’ Answers to Questions on Receivership

By Carroll Andrew Morse | February 10, 2012 |

Central Falls Receiver Robert Flanders certainly cannot be faulted for not responding to inquiries in a timely fashion… Q1: You have been quoted on the Buddy Cianci radio show as saying that some sitting Rhode Island Mayors should approach the state government and ask to become the receivers for their cities. Is this indeed a…

Receivership as a Way for Mayors to Grab Total Control of City Government?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | February 10, 2012 |

Yesterday was the second consecutive day on which Buddy Cianci, during his WPRO (630AM) radio show, referenced an earlier interview with Central Falls Receiver Robert Flanders, where Receiver Flanders had apparently suggested that Rhode Island Mayors could deal with their fiscal problems by approaching the state and having themselves appointed receivers of their own communities.…

In-State Tuition For Illegal Aliens: When Did the Board of Regents Acquire the Constitutional Ability To Appropriate?

By Monique Chartier | September 19, 2011 |

Patrick highlights the recommendation by a Board of Regents panel that the state offer to illegal aliens the ability to attend state colleges at the much lower tuition rate paid by in-state residents. The ProJo 7 to 7 News Blog reports that the Board of Regents Board of Governors for Higher Education is expected to…

Gimme that Old-Tyme Constitutionalism!

By Carroll Andrew Morse | July 6, 2011 |

The passage of the state budget, followed by a flurry of bills passed and not passed in the last week of the 2011 Rhode Island General Assembly session, were clear demonstrations of the value and the wisdom of two foundational principles of American constitutional governance. 1. The Division of Powers, more commonly referred to as…

All in the Judiciary’s Hands

By Justin Katz | July 4, 2011 |

The precedent that this ruling out of Michigan, related to a constitutionally created ban on affirmative action, sets is astonishing: The 2-1 decision upends a sweeping law that forced the University of Michigan and other public schools to change admission policies. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law, approved by voters in…

The Window and the House of Cards

By Justin Katz | February 6, 2010 |

Apart from the complications of Rhode Island law, as a matter of political theory, this strikes me as a reasonable argument: The lawsuit [by the city of Woonsocket], which also names State Controller Marc A. Leonetti and General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio as defendants, said the money [that the state was supposed to give towns…

Why the Proposed Teachers’ Health Insurance Board is an Unconstitutional Violation of Separation of Powers

By Carroll Andrew Morse | January 4, 2010 |

A non-trivial question concerning the new teachers’ health insurance board proposed by the legislature but opposed by the Governor is which branch of government it would belong to. It’s obviously not the judiciary. And as currently structured, the board cannot be an offshoot of the legislature. A legislature has no power to delegate its statewide…

Re-Re-arranging Massachusetts’ Succession Law

By Monique Chartier | August 20, 2009 |

The senior senator from Massachusetts has written a letter urging the Mass state legislature to change the method by which a US senate seat would be filled in the event of a vacancy. Change it … back to the way it was the first time he urged them to change it five years ago. John…