The Congressional Budget Office

The CBO has for the past 40 years provided specialist advice to Congress. It is an institution well worth looking at and getting to know if the workings of Congress itself are of interest to you.

 

Brookings have an event next week - which I've already signed up for - not that I will be in Washington (more's the pity) - but one can sign up for the live webcast.

 

 

The Congressional Budget Office at 40

 

On February 17, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy will convene a conversation to examine the political forces that have, so far, allowed CBO to maintain its independence, to evaluate what CBO has done well and what it hasn’t, and to highlight challenges it confronts in the future.

For more details - and to sign up (either to attend in person, or for the webcast - go to http://www.brookings.edu/events

Privacy and the Law

A Hot topic of the moment - particularly in the UK where the use of 'superinjunctions' has dominated the media in recent weeks - and the publication on Twitter of details of these has posed a huge question about how Parliament and the Courts should proceed.

The Brookings Institution has published a paper that contains some real meat for lawyers; lawyers and citizens to think about. It takes a look at US law and applies US constitutional principles - but illustrates the problems that any legal system faces when trying to balance the rights of privacy and free expression - in the face of technological developments.

The paper can be accessed here.