Essay on "U.S. Constitution: Discussion Questions"

Quoted Instructions for "U.S. Constitution: Discussion Questions" Assignment:

A- Choose one amendment and research one landmark Supreme Court case on the subject. Briefly summarize the case. The summary should indicate the correct case name, the year the case was decided, a brief summary of the facts, a description of the issue(s) that were considered and a summary of the majority opinion.

B- summarize the Bill of Rights. This not necessarily a lesson in creativity but rather an exercise to ensure that you read and comprehend the Amendments. •Pretend you are providing a civics lesson to a 6th grade class. You do not care if the students know the precise language of the Amendments but rather that they know the substance of each Amendment. •For that reason, you will rewrite the 1st Ten Amendments in a manner that 6th graders can understand. •This will also require you to engage in your first act of judicial interpretation as any rewording necessarily creates potential change in original meaning.

C- 1.Create an Amendment to the Constitution 2.Which Amendment needs to be amended? (Review the amendments and rewrite (plain English) ?Choose one amendment to clarify in a way that suits your preference for what is best for the country. ?This can be any of the amendments, not merely the Bill of Rights (the 1st Ten Amendments). ?Write the amendment in language that leaves little room for ambiguity. For example: The 2nd Amendment has relatively vague language related to providing unabridged rights of the citizens to bear arms. The 8th Amendment does not discuss the death penalty. ?You can clarify either - or any other amendment - in any way that you think best serves the country. ?In a paragraph, justify your reasons for the rewrite. Other Amendments that deal with the rights of criminals also have ambiguous language.

D- Read about different theories of Constitutional interpretation. Certainly, read the articles within the lecture but also feel free to research the issue. In a paragraph, please explain the approach that generally suits your beliefs and why.

E- •Please provide one paragraph on the strengths of originalism and and one paragraph on the strengths of non-originalism. •In 1-2 paragraphs, please explain how an originalist and a non-originalist would approach a case involving abortion.

F- Do you think the Court should exercise Judicial Review in the following cases? Please explain your answer.

1.Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Health Care reform passed during the Obama administration) 2.The National Abortion Is Banned In All Cases Bill (Hypothetical bill, not actually passed)

G- 1.Research either U.S. v. Nixon or ***** v. Jones and provide a brief to the class on either case in the manner described in Learning Unit 1. Part of the research assignment is to find the case. 2.Then, in response to the case you chose above, do you agree with the court’s position? Explain your reasoning in a paragraph.

H- Whenever the Supreme Court intervenes in a political matter, the Justices are scrutinized regarding their political beliefs. In theory, their political beliefs should not interfere with their legal analysis.

Was Bush v. Gore decided primarily due to political preference or legal analysis?