"The House has proposed its own reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It is an improvement over the Senate bill, but it, too, suffers from constitutional problems.

As discussed in a previous Heritage posting and in a recent law review article, if enacted into law, the Senate VAWA bill would violate Articles II and III of the Constitution for two reasons:

1) It grants tribal judges authority to enter a final judgment of conviction in certain criminal cases even though tribal judges are not appointed by the President, the head of a department, or a court of law, as Article II requires; and

2) It grants tribal courts that authority even though tribal judges lack the life tenure and salary protection required by Article III.

The House bill can be challenged on the same grounds. None of the parties with appointment power specified in Article II would appoint or could remove a tribal judge; that authority would still reside with each tribe. Moreover, the House bill does not vest tribal judges with life tenure or protect their salaries. The House bill therefore suffers from the same defects as the Senate bill."

Get the Story:
Paul J. Larkin, Jr.: “Violence Against Women” Act: House Bill Better but Still Flawed (The Heritage Foundation 2/26)

Committee Notice:
S. 47—Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (February 26, 2013)

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