[The first of four blog posts drawing on tonight's Hallows Lecture at Marquette Law School.]
For several decades, we have been witnessing a Congress in long decline and a corresponding ascent of the President and the courts. I see this as a fundamental deformation of the Constitution—a deviation from its original and better design—and this deformation is the subject of my lecture today.
Congress has long been regarded as the keystone of the federal government. James Madison thought it self-evident that "[i]n republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates." Under the Constitution, only the Congress is given the power to enact laws, levy taxes, and appropriate monies for the government.
