Issues

Whether the U.S. Constitution should be amended to require the federal government to balance its budget annually, typically with exceptions for war or supermajority overrides.

Whether courts should defer to federal agencies' reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes — the longstanding Chevron doctrine — or independently determine the best reading, as the Supreme Court ruled in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.

Whether members of Congress and senior staff should be allowed to trade individual stocks while in office, given access to non-public market-moving information.

Proposals to cap the number of terms a member of Congress can serve, typically requiring a constitutional amendment after U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995).

The use of executive orders, memoranda, and rule-making to make policy without congressional legislation — and the question of when that crosses constitutional bounds.

How the Constitution's "high crimes and misdemeanors" standard should be interpreted and whether the impeachment process, as practiced, can still function as a meaningful check on the executive and judiciary.

Whether statutory protections for federal inspectors general should be strengthened to prevent politically motivated dismissal by the executive and preserve their independent oversight of agency conduct.

The Article II power letting the President grant clemency for federal offenses, and proposals to constrain it after high-profile uses.

Whether Puerto Rico — a U.S. territory of 3.2 million American citizens — should become a state, gain independence, enter free association, or retain commonwealth status.

How broadly the president's constitutional power to make recess appointments should extend — and whether modern Senate practices have effectively eliminated meaningful recesses, making the power moot or available for circumvention.

Whether the federal government should impose a binding annual cap on the total cost of new regulations issued by executive-branch agencies — sometimes called a "regulatory budget."

Whether Congress should expand the Supreme Court beyond its current nine seats to alter its ideological balance or to address structural problems with the confirmation process.

Proposals to change the size of the Supreme Court, impose term limits, or restructure judicial selection — debated intensely after high-profile decisions on abortion, guns, and administrative law.

Whether Supreme Court justices should serve fixed terms — most commonly proposed as staggered 18-year terms with regular vacancies — rather than life tenure, to regularize appointments and reduce the stakes of any single seat.

The Senate procedure that effectively requires 60 votes to end debate on most legislation, giving a minority of senators veto power over most bills.

Whether the District of Columbia's ~700,000 residents — who pay federal taxes and serve in the military but lack voting representation in Congress — should be admitted as a state.