Longstanding House precedents have not found such interests to warrant abstention under the above-quoted House Rule that instructs Members to vote on each question presented unless they have ― a direct personal or pecuniary interest in the event of such question.
"I think there's solid Supreme Court precedent against this, and that precedent has not been eroded in any way," said Mr. Fidell, the president of the Institute for Military Justice.
The whole thing, he seemed to believe, was their fault, though he also asked "whether a zeal, governed by blindness and passion, and led by precedent, has not herein precipitated us into far greater wickedness (if not witchcrafts) than any have yet been proved against those that suffered".
The company said this meant a legal precedent had not been set.
He brushed off the allegations, arguing either that "finances were peripheral" or claiming a precedent: had not Winston Churchill been financed by business admirers too?Perhaps, but only when out of power, and Churchill did not plunder the Tory coffers; Mr Haughey used those of his Fianna Fail party as his private piggy-bank.
VICE spoke with the author by phone to find out how the admissibility of confessions in criminal trials has changed over the years, and why decades of precedent haven't stopped cops from railroading suspects.
While this bottom-up approach has created a small jurisprudence on immigration that could set precedents, it has not played a crucial role in triggering policy reform.
Once again, Saddam's experience provides a telling precedent that has not gone unnoticed.
But Mr. Clinton expressed concern today that Congress's action may set a hasty, complex precedent that has not been thoroughly analyzed.
The law at issue, which tried to override the validity of a bond offering, "went beyond the congressional power," the Court ruled, setting a precedent that has not been overturned.
