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Amendment XIV and Federal Pension Obligations: A Response to Professor Michael McConnell
(2013)
  • Seth Barrett Tillman
Abstract

Professor McConnell has argued that:

For Congress to limit the amount of the debt does not “question” the “validity” of the debt that has been “authorized by law.” At most, it means that paying the public debts and pension obligations of the United States, as they become due, has priority over all other spending.

Although McConnell's first statement is correct, his second statement is incorrect. Giving the federal debt priority over other government obligations requires a firm legal basis. Amendment XIV supplies no such basis.

[August 27, 2013]

Disciplines
Publication Date
January 16, 2013
Citation Information
Seth Barrett Tillman, Amendment XIV and Federal Pension Obligations: A Response to Professor Michael McConnell (2013), http://ssrn.com/abstract=2201476, http://works.bepress.com/seth_barrett_tillman/360/.