- 1.5.1Judge of Elections, Returns, and Qualifications; Quorumnot yet published The clause vests each chamber with the power to judge its own members' elections, returns, and qualifications and requires a majority quorum for business — a self-policing design that protects legislative independence but concentrates election-dispute resolution in the body whose composition is at stake.
- 1.5.2Rules and Disciplinenot yet published The clause makes each chamber a self-governing institution — empowered to set its own rules, discipline its own members, and expel by supermajority. The self-governance holds; the structural strains are the filibuster's de facto supermajority threshold and the discipline power's dependence on political will.
- 1.5.3Journal and Yeas and Naysnot yet published The clause establishes transparency as a constitutional value — mandating a public journal and a minority-triggered mechanism for recording individual votes. The transparency architecture holds; the strain is the gap between procedural transparency (what Congress did) and deliberative transparency (why it acted).
- 1.5.4Adjournment Limitsnot yet published The adjournment clause prevents either chamber from defeating legislation by leaving — requiring mutual consent for breaks longer than three days or relocation. The mechanism holds; the strain is its repurposing as a weapon in separation-of-powers disputes over recess appointments, where form and function diverge.