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There Is No Constitutional End Run Around the Debt Ceiling

Document Type

Blog Posting

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

The Atlantic

Abstract

Congress has maintained some form of a debt limit, without constitutional controversy, since the dawn of the republic. According to widely held legal principles, its existence creates no conflict with the Constitution, and the Supreme Court would almost certainly reject any attempt to argue otherwise.

Keywords

Debt Limit, Constitutional Law, Fourteenth Amendment, Congress, Executive Branch

Publication Citation

Conor Clarke, There Is No Constitutional End Run Around the Debt Ceiling, The Atlantic: Ideas (May 24, 2023), https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/debt-ceiling-negotiations-default-deadline-biden-constitution/674155/

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