Congress's contempt power: Three mechanisms for enforcing subpoenas

Since the beginning of the 110th Congress, increased oversight by congressional committees into activities of the President and Executive Branch has sparked renewed interest in both political and legal questions involving the separation of powers. Congressional subpoenas for general information, documents, and testimony from high-ranking executive officials has not only generated significant inter-branch conflict but has also developed into a controversy that could result in a legal standoff between Congress and the President. Congress's ability to obtain access to information, whether in the form of documents or testimony, from the Executive is primarily enforced through political negotiation and accommodation that generally take place outside of public view. Contempt may be used by Congress to coerce compliance, punish the contemnor, and/or remove the obstruction. This paper focuses on Congress's contempt power and congressional authority to enforce its requests for information, documents, and testimony from both private individuals and the Executive Branch. First, it examines the source of Congress's contempt power. Next, it discusses and analyzes the procedures associated with each of the three different types of contempt proceedings—inherent contempt, statutory criminal contempt, and statutory civil contempt. Finally, this paper concludes by addressing several of the unique constitutional, legal, and political problems that are associated with congressional contempt proceedings against Executive Branch officials.     

National security controls,information, and communication in the United States

National security controls on information and communication in the United States arise from a variegated body of Executive Branch measures, statutes, and court decisions, as well as shifting opinions concerning the application of such authorities. After a discussion of the current national security atmosphere in the country, a brief history of Federal controls will be followed by an in-depth presentation of the current framework of controls on information and communication. Lastly, this review concludes with a discussion of the major implications of current conditions upon constitutional rights and democratic values in the United States.     

Fee or free: Public interest and the freedom of information act

This article examines Executive agency fee waiver guidelines for public interest requesters, including scholars, the media, and public interest groups, within the larger context of F.O.I.A.'s costs and benefits to the public. Information transmitted to the public by these requesters enhances citizen oversight of government activities and assists Congress in formulating public policy. However, arbitrary interpretation of the statute's fee waiver provision and the lack of standard and consistent fee waiver guidelines clearly inhibit use of the Act by public interest requesters. Continuing efforts by some Members of Congress and Executive agency personnel to further limit certain types of information available under the F.O.I. A. prompted renewed consideration of the economic aspects of Federal information policy in general and, in particular, the Freedom of Information Act.     

Researching Initiatives and Referendums: A Guide for Florida

SUMMARY

In Florida, direct democracy at the state level consists entirely of the initiative method of amending the State constitution. This constitutional provision was partly a response to the State's history of obstacles to affording equitable legislative representation to all its citizens, a struggle with roots dating back to the Reconstruction era. The State constitution, governing statutes and regulations, and the Division of Elections Web site serve as the primary sources of information and guidance for those interested in the process of amending the State constitution by citizen-sponsored initiative.     

宋代致仕官员恋栈现象及其原因探析

官员退休通称致仕等,是中国古代封建王朝的重要议题。经过各个时期的不断调整,宋朝致仕制度也逐渐臻于完善。有宋一代,虽则出现了以王彦超为代表的一批知止而退的致仕官员,但年及而愿退者依然较少,官员恋栈现象仍然时有发生。导致官员恋栈的原因是多方面的,就主观层面而言,部分及年应退官员,或基于生计考虑,或缘于贪恋权财,而故作不知退。就客观层面而言,宋朝致仕标准"朝令夕改",具有极强的随意性特点,既褒奖提前退休,又额外奖励按时致仕,亦或惩处或者认可到时不退者,使得官员面对如此繁杂的情况,属实不知该退还是不该退,有些无所适从。最终他们在善变的致仕制度中徘徊前进,不知所措。     

Prodasen: The congressional information system of the Federal Senate of Brazil

The centerpiece of the efforts of the National Congress to build its staff and information capabilities was the establishment of the Centro de Informática e Processamento de Dados do Senado Federal (Prodasen) or Center for Data Processing of the Federal Senate. The establishment of Prodasen was to spearhead the reform movement of the Senate administration and operation, and to provide the Congress with up-to-date, timely, and relevant information to enable the members to exercise their constitutional function. Because of the centrality of Prodasen, both as an information provider and as an example of a modern congressional staff unit, examining its creation, goals, and operations can illustrate the promises and dilemmas of congressional staff in Brazil, their present role in the legislative process, and the challenges they face under the new democratic regime.     

Congress as publisher: Politics,institutions, and policy

Since the beginning of the federal government, Congress has functioned as its publisher — the manager and director of government printing operations. Initially performed by private printers through lucrative contracts, production was statutorily vested in the Government Printing Office (GPO) in 1860 to assure efficient, economical, and quality printing. Over the past century and a half, however, changes in technology, law, and constitutional relationships have eroded arrangements for the public printing system. Information products printed by GPO in the past may now be agency-generated and made directly available to the public through agency Web sites or social media, with the result that congressional general management of the publication system is seemingly decreasing, at least in terms of GPO workload, publication accountability, and document sales. While it is unlikely that Congress will reduce or vacate its publisher capacity anytime soon, some adjustment of the scope of that role and related management capability may appropriately be in order.     

Public access to congressional records: Present policy and reform considerations

While the records of the Senate and House of Representatives are among the most valuable sources of information for enhancing public knowledge of congressional operations and decisions, they largely have not been available for examination unless they have been distributed as an official publication. Some have suggested that this situation could be rectified by making Congress subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. There are, however, both constitutional and practical problems in this approach. Nonetheless, there are those within the two Houses who are aware of the need for reform in this area, and efforts have been made to modify archival policies. Arguably, both citizens and legislators can benefit from improved records access arrangements.     

Constructing consensus: Homeland security as a symbol of government politics and administration

Homeland security is a recent symbol in the American political lexicon. As an outgrowth of the idea of national security, it evokes certain meanings for politicians, administrators, and the public. However, these meanings do not provide much guidance about how domestic safety can be assured, nor how American political and administrative institutions should be organized to meet threats to citizens. Using a general model of governmental information use, this study traces the political and administrative construction of meaning for ‘homeland security.’ First, through a qualitative analysis of contemporary documents, it traces the development and institutionalization of the term in the Federal Executive and Congress. Secondly, employing software-based content analysis, it analyzes how four groups described administrative needs for homeland security. It identifies areas where tensions regarding implementation of administrative measures for homeland security are likely to occur.     

Federal information policy: Protecting the free flow of information

Federal information policy is a tangled web, woven over many decades and one which tends to trap information, rather than making it easily available. Although some of the difficulty has been caused by a lack of coherence and by some confusion among members of the Congress, the principal difficulty recently has been the lack of trust exhibited by the Reagan administration. If the United States is to regain its economic and technological health, a well-thought-out and administered Federal information policy will be the cornerstone to those ends. An informed electorate can help by assisting Congress with ideas regarding needs, both present and future. Together with an informed administration, we can, and must, create the Federal information policy that meets all our needs without jeopardizing our national security.     

Secrecy agreements and national security

In the spring of 1983, President Reagan issued a National Security Decision Directive which, among other provisions, mandated that present and future Executive Branch employees and contractors having access to classified information or sensitive compartmented information, the latter being a kind of intelligence data, sign one of two types of nondisclosure agreement. Previously, these types of agreements had been used for the most part only in the intelligence agencies. This article reviews the law which has developed around the prepublication review requirement of Central Intelligence Agency agreements and examines the contracts mandated by the new National Security Decision Directive, identifying issues raised by these agreements in light of the body of case law dealing with the C.I.A.'s system of censorship. With regard to the prepublication review requirement, the focus here is limited to former rather than current officials of the government.     

法规和标准的一致性分析——也评GB/T3179—2009《期刊编排格式》

围绕GB/T 3179—2009《期刊编排格式》与国家现行法规是否具有一致性,出现了一些争议。从法规与标准关系入手剖析了一致性含义,认为法规与标准既有共性也有不同。标准与法规的一致性包括后继一致性、前瞻一致性和有限一致性,不存在完全一致性。认真比对相关法规,依据法规蕴含的法制精神及内在逻辑要求,逐条分析该标准中引起争议的内容与国家现行法规的一致性,认为标准中相关规定较好地体现了法规要求,作出了前瞻性探索和延伸。为利于出版活动健康发展,对新闻出版法规体系及标准建设提出建议。     

Promoting education for information resources management in the federal government

The recent initiatives from the Clinton administration and Congress to “reinvent government,” to “develop electronic information services,” to “better manage information technology” (IT), and to “improve access to electronic government information,” certainly is welcome. But policymakers need to go beyond the proposals and develop specific program initiatives and implementation strategies if such goals are to be realized. The realization of these goals will require a range of new educational program initiatives to retrain and retool government officials, especially those engaged in information resources management (IRM).If these initiatives to reinvent government are to occur successfully, the administration and Congress must create a major program initiative—with adequate financial support—to revamp the educational programs that support IRM. Simply put, the changes occurring in both information technology and in managing that technology are outpacing many government officials' ability to respond in a planned and coherent fashion. Moreover, the existing infrastructure to develop Federal IRM education and training is fragmented and poorly supported, lacks clear policy direction, and desperately needs updating and reconceptualization.     

The administration and operation of the freedom of information act: A retrospective

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been administered by Federal departments and agencies for almost 30 years. Aspects of that administrative experience are discussed here. Never held in high regard or enthusiastically implemented by the Executive Branch, the FOIA and its effective operation owe much to Congress, which, after creating the statute, nurtured it through diligent oversight and legislative amendment. However, the FOIA has not received comprehensive congressional examination and evaluation for a decade. Not only might its existing procedures benefit from reassessment and upgrading, but also its capacity to contend with electronic formats is in question. Furthermore, the prospect of the statute being extended to cover Congress or possibly the entire Legislative Branch grows stronger, suggesting a need to begin discussions concerning the scope of the FOIA's application to congressional or Legislative Branch records and such new arrangements as may be necessary to facilitate effective operation of the law should this application be approved.     

Building the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)

ABSTRACT

Although the quantity of sources of foreign and international law available on the World Wide Web is rapidly growing, users quickly discover that everything is not available, and the quality of much of what exists is suspect. Driven by its mission to collect, preserve and provide access to reliable legal information from around the world, the Law Library of Congress is developing the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), a database containing statutes, regulations and related legal materials from countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. This article describes the history of this effort; the future plans for development; standards for quality, and the organizational structure of the GLIN network. The article concludes that although the creation of a comprehensive digital law library is a mammoth undertaking, the need for GLIN is obvious.     

Resolving refugee problems: an introduction to the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner's Programme and its documentation

The number of refugees who flee their countries each year due to civil war and political persecution has steadily risen over the years. One of the major producers of information about the plight of these people is the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme (EXCOM), a United Nations body established to advise the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Very little has been written about EXCOM despite the prolific amount of documentation that it generates each year. This article attempts to fill the gap by introducing the Committee and its work, reviewing its usefulness as an information source on refugee issues, and highlighting the principal resources available that provide access to EXCOM texts.     

The National Library of Medicine and the American medical information system: the physician's perspective

During the past 150 years an excellent health sciences information system has been developed in the United States. Led by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the system grew along traditional lines until after World War II, when medical researchers, educators, and practitioners produced an enormous amount of new information. To cope with this growth, the power of computers joined traditional librarianship and MEDLARS was born. In 1965 Congress passed the Medical Library Assistance Act, which enabled NLM to lead the nation's and the world's health sciences professionals into the Information Age. Much as been accomplished by NLM, yet much remains to be done to make health information available cheaply, easily, and quickly to all who need it.     

Looking for datasets to open: An exploration of government officials' information behaviors in open data policy implementation

In recent years, more and more government administrations around the world are participating in open data policy implementation. Government officials who are charged with implementing this new policy usually need to look for related information for deciding what datasets to open to the public. Accordingly, a research gap exists in understanding government officials' information behaviors in implementing open data policy. By using a qualitative approach to conduct semi-structured interviews with government officials who have extensive experience in implementing open data policy, this study explores government officials' information behaviors in searching and selecting datasets for open data publication. Specifically, this research investigates government officials' information needs, the employed information sources, and the intervening variables that influence their information behaviors. While open data is an ongoing policy implementation, government officials' information behaviors form an iterative cycle where information needs continually occur, information seeking activities are conducted by using a variety of information sources, and the obtained information is used to satisfy information needs. The findings and discussions of this study are expected to provide insights of government officials' data search and selection to practitioners and to enrich the current literature of open government data.     

PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY JOURNAL PRICES IN 1977-1978

Double-digit inflation in the prices of physics and chemistry,journals, previously reported by the authors for the years 1973 through 1976, continued in 1977 and 1978. The sustained high rate of inflation in journal prices has perpetuated the acquisitions crisis in academic science libraries described in the earlier article. National officials are urged to try to persuade Congress to provide the federal aid needed to alleviate this crisis.     

The National Library of Medicine and the American medical information system: the physician's perspective.

During the past 150 years an excellent health sciences information system has been developed in the United States. Led by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the system grew along traditional lines until after World War II, when medical researchers, educators, and practitioners produced an enormous amount of new information. To cope with this growth, the power of computers joined traditional librarianship and MEDLARS was born. In 1965 Congress passed the Medical Library Assistance Act, which enabled NLM to lead the nation''s and the world''s health sciences professionals into the Information Age. Much as been accomplished by NLM, yet much remains to be done to make health information available cheaply, easily, and quickly to all who need it.