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A country retains an identity when its name is changed. There are institutions in a country that exist independently of the name of the country. What processes would these institutions accept as proper to change the name of the United States of America?

Just a guy
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antonycc
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  • What institutions are you talking about? I’m guessing your question is looking to consider what would happen to or what could places do if they are named “Bank of America” or “American Airlines” and the United States of America was renamed to United States of Acirema or something? Please note: your question’s title (re: legislative process) doesn’t match your actual question. The question in your title would be more suited for the Politics Stack. Also, you may be looking for another term, because institutions aren’t afforded due process. – A.fm. Nov 27 '19 at 01:44
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it belongs on https://politics.stackexchange.com/ – BlueDogRanch Nov 27 '19 at 01:48
  • @BlueDogRanch I agree if the question is the one in the title. The one in the body, though, doesn’t require closure. – A.fm. Nov 27 '19 at 02:07
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    @A.fm.legislative processes are legal as well as political. – Dale M Nov 27 '19 at 04:56
  • @DaleM actually, no. Not according to Law.StackExchange. – A.fm. Nov 27 '19 at 05:53
  • @BlueDogRanch To answer the title question you have to answer the question "Who has the power to change the name of the USA?" Questions about which branch has the power to do what are questions about constitutional law, yes? – Just a guy Nov 27 '19 at 06:20
  • @A.fm. on what do you base your assertion that a question about the process necessary to change the country's name is not a question about law? The constitution is law, and questions about the constitution's operation are legal questions. Suppose the president issued an executive order purporting to change the name of the country, and someone challenged it in court: do you think that the courts would refuse to entertain the question "where does the power to change the country's name lie?" because it is a political question? I do not. – phoog Nov 27 '19 at 17:30
  • @phoog I base it on the precedent consistently set by the community here that questions about legislating are not questions for Law.SE. Has nothing to do with your hypothetical. – A.fm. Nov 27 '19 at 17:33
  • @A.fm. my understanding of the distinction is that questions about what the law should be and about why it is the way it is are off topic here (because they are political questions); this question doesn't meet either of those criteria. Questions about what the law actually says about how the legislative process works or might work, however, have been well received. For example, see some of the results for the search can congress. – phoog Nov 27 '19 at 17:37
  • @phoog Big distinction there: “can Congress?” is a legal question. Eg, does it have and/or what gives it the power to do X? “How does?” is a process question. Eg, this question. – A.fm. Nov 27 '19 at 17:41
  • @A.fm. To the extent that I can devine a distinction between "by what legislative process can X be done" and "can congress do X" it's that the former is equivalent to "how can congress do X" which seems not to be a sufficient distinction to make the question off topic; both are questions of constitutional law. – phoog Nov 27 '19 at 18:26
  • @phoog Distinction is clear. I can’t help your decision to ignore it. – A.fm. Nov 27 '19 at 21:13
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – phoog Nov 27 '19 at 23:13

1 Answers1

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Since the name "United States of America" is found (without formal establishment or definition) in the Declaration of Independence, and it pervades the Constitution, a statute establishing a different name for the country would probably be insufficient. A constitutional amendment should suffice, however.

phoog
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    It was formally established in the Articles of Confederation in the first article: " I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be

    "The United States of America"."

     – user662852 Nov 27 '19 at 15:56
  • @user662852 I knew I'd read that phrase somewhere. Thanks for mentioning it. Is there any chance that this provision still has force? A question on [Law.SE] about whether the Articles of Confederation were formally repealed did not yield any definitive answers, though the best answer there does point out that the constitution supersedes the articles, so a constitutional amendment would still suffice. – phoog Nov 27 '19 at 17:24