Hammurabi's Code, Prologue |
For more than
Last week, House leadership announced that the U.S. Code will be available in bulk, for the first time, in well-structured XML. (Disclosure: this was our baby) This is the first plank in a Republican platform of transparency. The next big one is the DATA Act, quietly making its way through Congress due to a stellar multifaceted coalition. And I think that, deep down, the Republicans championing these reforms know that Democrats (even President Obama, whose birthday was yesterday) agree with them on this transparency and technology agenda. When the legislation gets passed, and the public starts to realize what good has happened with little fanfare in Washington, the only thing left to do will be to fight over the credit.
Is this picture too rosy? Let me dream a bit-- it's my birthday.
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** For the legal philosophy ninjas reading this (you know who you are), I am referring to positive law in the context of U.S. positive law codification. This is not the same as positive law in legal philosophy. "Huh?" you say. Don't ask me, ask the folks at the House Law Revision Counsel. They explain it better than I ever could, here.