Scholarship@WashULaw

Why the Debt Limit Is (Still, Really) Constitutional

Document Type

Blog Posting

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

The Volokh Conspiracy on Reason

Abstract

There is now a deal over the debt limit, but President nevertheless insists that he's still looking at using the 14th Amendment in the future—apparently to decide "whether or not you need to do the debt limit every year." Motivated in part by some friendly disagreement with Michael Dorf, the President's comments seem like a good occasion for me to revisit the absence of a 14th Amendment authority to exceed the limit and respond to a few of Dorf's points.

Keywords

Debt Limit, Fourteenth Amendment, Constitutional Law

Publication Citation

Clarke, Conor, Why the Debt Limit Is (Still, Really) Constitutional, The Volokh Conspiracy on Reason (May 30, 2023), https://reason.com/volokh/2023/05/30/why-the-debt-limit-is-still-really-constitutional/

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