At a news conference on Thursday night, Mr. Gates suggested that Japan could take on more peacekeeping, reconstruction and humanitarian missions without violating limits on offensive military actions in the Constitution imposed by United States occupation forces after World War II.
Experts estimate the farm bill, signed by President Bush last spring, could increase federal spending on agriculture by 70percentt over the next six years, to as much as $180 billion, potentially violating limits for farm support set during the last round of global trade talks, but Mr. Zoellick's office disputed that.
Even after being forced to cut production last month because of high lead emissions, a Vernon battery recycler has continued to violate limits on releases of the potent neurotoxin, regulators said Wednesday.
The missiles clearly violated range limits set by the United Nations, and Mr. Hussein was trying to buy better technology from North Korea.
But since Mr. Obama took office, the N.S.A. has sometimes violated the limits imposed on spying on Americans by the new FISA law.
The arms sales to Nicaragua were illegal because they violated Congressional limits on the amount of American aid that could be given to the contras.
Since then, the FEC has levied fines against fewer than 10 donors, all of whom reported themselves as having violated the limits.
In a letter to embattled DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Sanders campaign attorney Brad Deutsch questioned whether the Clinton campaign had "violated legal limits on donations" through activities associated with the Hillary Victory Fund.
Another possibility is that those who "knowingly and willfully" violated the limits could see their cases referred to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution, although a criminal prosecution for exceeding overall contribution limits has never happened before.
When larger countries such as Germany and France routinely violated spending limits a few years ago, this was conveniently ignored (or papered over), in contrast to the vituperative criticism now being hurled at Greece.
