From: "Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law" <froomkin@law.miami.edu>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 06:52:22 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Not. [Was Re: Federal Reserve Bank is ILLEGAL?]
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9611110517.A13588-0100000@skypoint-gw.globelle.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95.961111094329.3168B-100000@viper.law.miami.edu>
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Instead of reading the rabid nonsense referred to in the previous post in
this thread, try

http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/reinvent.htm

wherein it is revealed that (gasp!) the Federal Reserve is an independent
federal agency, but that (private) federal reserve banks have five of the
twelve votes (the rest belong to government officials) on the Open Market
Committee, an important policy-setting body that has an influence over the
money supply.  Incidentally, this practice was upheld in Melcher v.
Federal Open Mkt. Comm., 644 F. Supp. 510 (D.D.C. 1986). 

My article discusses the tangled legality of letting private parties
exercise goverment powers -- a practice that, like it or not, is as old as
the Republic.  (Documentation for that claim appears at 
http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/reinvent.htm#ENDNOTE9  )
and thus about as clearly within the original intent as anything gets.
Incidentally, the practice of giving private parties partial or full
control over seemingly public functions affects a very large number
of bodies, not just the Open Market Committee.


On Mon, 11 Nov 1996, Doug Renner wrote:

[pointer to rabid nonsense]


A. Michael Froomkin        | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)
Associate Professor of Law |
U. Miami School of Law     | froomkin@law.miami.edu
P.O. Box 248087            | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin
Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's warm here.