The first item that caught my eye this week was a little blog our student Priya Barnes is writing as she visits Germany, attending the Summer Session in Giessen, Germany, that Professor Fallone blogged about on Monday.  So far, she’s only offered one entry, about her travels, but I intend to watch for more….

Mark Tushnet (who gave a terrific presentation at Marquette last week, co-sponsored by the student American Constitution Society organization and the local lawyer’s chapter of ACS) raises some interesting questions about Republican-sponsored legislation that would require congressional review of proposed “major regulations.” The idea is that agency rules would be transformed into agency proposals, to be okayed by Congress.  For “non-major” proposals, Congressional silence would equal assent, while majority votes of both chambers would be required for adoption of new “major regulations.”  

His first post questioned how this scheme could be reconciled with Chadha, but his second one noted that the statute would have the effect of repealing all agency authority to adopt major rules, converting it to authority to convert rules into proposals.  He suggests there may remain a constitutional problem, because even if this is the intended effect, “the statutory language sure doesn’t look on its face as if that’s what’s going on.”

Finally, as usual, most of my blog reading has focused on ImmigrationProfs Blog.  One interesting entry this week highlighted a video produced by CNN on the subject of the deportation of citizens, which the expert interviewed estimates happens at the rate of one citizen a day.

That news report was prompted by the then-impending effective date of the Arizona law SB1070, which, you may have heard, has recently faced significant legal hurdles, with the Government’s preemption arguing succeeding in part.