...its This article was written and submitted to the constitution committee as an argument for term limits to be set Congress. Mr. Crane addresses one of the main issues the opposing side has with putting term limits on Congress which is amending the constitution. I think this would be useful for my research paper because it is a normal citizen’s point of view. This piece helps to solidify my argument for why term limits should be an amendment. While this source is biased he does help argue the opposing viewpoint. Gest, T. (1995). Term limits: Detour ahead. U.S. News &...
Words: 977 - Pages: 4
...Congress and Its Fight for Power Does Congress deserve a larger role in foreign policy? Should the president have complete control over foreign affairs? These questions have been asked in recent times because of the everlasting dispute over the intended separation of powers between the president and congress. Article 1, section 8 of the constitution states that the president is the commander in chief of the United States military. It also states congress has the power to declare war. Considering both these statements, who is really in charge of U.S. foreign policy? In recent times the president has claimed it is an inherent right to be able to make executive orders. However, the use and abuse of these executive orders has become increasingly...
Words: 749 - Pages: 3
...This argument can be easily refuted by Congress. While President Washington’s refusal to fly the US flag on Navy ships is more related to the troops than Truman’s actions to keep open a steel mill during the Korean War in the Steel Seizure case, it still did not directly affect the troops. Much like President Truman in the case the president was not taking care ensure that the laws of Congress were being faithfully executed, but rather he was making his own laws and much more egregiously he was acting directly against a valid law passed by Congress. President Washington’s action was emblematic of Category #3 as laid out in Justice Jackson’s Triparte Approach in his concurrence in the Steel Seizure Case. Category #3 explains that when the president...
Words: 1524 - Pages: 7
...Distortion is the military and defense industry and their interest in increasing the spending for mobilization and defense. Hudson states because the two industries are so big they make it hard for common citizens' voices to be heard. This is a strong argument for the reason that big and rich industry can influence government policy and have. Hudson also talks about how professional soldiers because more harm to democracy than conscript soldiers. Hudson believes that professional soldiers are more loyal to the commanding officers than the constitution. This belief Hudson possesses is hard to agree with. Soldiers either professional or conscript promise to protect their country and most soldiers would never cause harm to the country they love the most even if they have made a career of being in the...
Words: 1491 - Pages: 6
...-Founded on ‘science of politics’ -People are supreme via Constitution The politics of a written text ‘Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.’ Alexis de Tocqueville (1840) Democracy in America, Book I, ch.16 -slavery -civil rights -abortion -healthcare Constitution Problematic Bill of Rights (1791) The first 10 amendments to the Constitution -1,2,3: limits of Congress 4, 5, 6: limits on executive 7, 8: limits on both (via judiciary) 9, 10: federalism (limits on national power) All posit limits on the institutions in the Constitution. Two parts of the doc, the first iteration is not sufficient to cool the fears of the anti-federalism. Madison creates these posited limits. The Separation of Powers The basic problem of government. How one separates power. There are 3 key obstacles to power in the USA. SoP – obliges competition across departments. Federalism is the primary barrier states have against the federal...
Words: 1077 - Pages: 5
...concerns in Federalist Paper No. 84, "Bill of rights. He believed it was not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous." Hamilton asks, "For why declare that things shall not be done by Congress which there is no power to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given to Congress by which restrictions may be imposed?" Hamilton's argument was that Congress can only do what the Constitution specifically gives it authority to do. Powers not granted belong to the people and the states. Another way of putting Hamilton's concern to theory. Why have an amendment prohibiting Congress from interfering on our right to play hopscotch when the Constitution gives Congress no authority to interfere upon our hopscotch rights in the first place? Alexander Hamilton added that a Bill of Rights would "contain various exceptions to powers not granted and, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more powers than were granted. To mollify Alexander Hamilton's fears about how a Bill of Rights might be used as a pretext to interfere on human rights, the Framers added the Ninth Amendment. Boiled down to its basics, the Ninth...
Words: 568 - Pages: 3
...In February 1787, Congress supported a resolution for revising the Articles of Confederation; in May, representatives from twelve states convened in Philadelphia. The original Constitution, ratified by the states, contained very few individual rights guarantees, as the framers were primarily focused on establishing the machinery for an effective federal government. As adopted, the Constitution included only a few specific rights guarantees: protection against states impairing the obligation of contracts, provisions that prohibit both the federal and state governments from enforcing ex post facto laws (laws that allow punishment for an action that was not criminal at the time it was undertaken) and provisions barring bills of attainder. The framers, and notably James Madison, its architect, believed that the Constitution protected liberty primarily through its division of powers that made it difficult for an oppressive majorities to form and capture power to be used against minorities. In the ratification debate, Anti-Federalists opposed to the Constitution, complained that the new system threatened liberties, and suggested that if the delegates had truly cared about protecting individual rights, they would have included provisions that accomplished that. With ratification in serious doubt, Federalists announced a willingness to take up the matter of a series of amendments, to be called the Bill of Rights, soon after ratification and the First Congress came into session...
Words: 853 - Pages: 4
...“property.” Ten states had already outlawed slavery, it was the remaining three- Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina- that threatened to leave the convention if the trade of slaves was banned. A final decision was made that congress would have the power to ban the slave trade, but not until the year 1800. The convention later agreed that it would be best to extend the date until 1808. Arguments against Ratification at the Virginia Convention was written in 1788 by Jonathan Elliot. Jonathan Elliot was a white male, as well as a respected writer. As learned in previous classes, Elliot’s coverage of debates were very valued during this time period and was the best source of information about the national government’s transitional period. His notes about the debates were so well valued due to the fact that he left out his personal opinion and just wrote what he heard and saw, this let the people who read his documents interpret their own view and opinion. Arguments against Ratification at the Virginia Convention was written to be viewed by the public. The audience intended was those who believed that the Constitution should not be ratified and outlined reasons why it they believed that and concerns they had with it being ratified. The Arguments against Ratification at the Virginia Convention was mainly about how people believed the Bill of Rights needed to be put into the Constitution for them to consider ratifying it because people believed that without the Bill of Rights,...
Words: 1962 - Pages: 8
...officer forced him to perform sexual acts while being detained by a fellow officer, with a third standing watch. The Department of Justice, acting as counsel for the Bureau of Prisons, motioned for this case to be dismissed. Their argument relied upon the Federal Torts Claims Act, granting immunity to the federal government from such claims (Neither the Federal District Court nor the Third District Court of Appeals felt that Millbrook...
Words: 2863 - Pages: 12
...To what extent does congress remain a powerful body? Congress can be argued to be an ineffective body. Though it is furnished with great power from the constitution it fails to successfully fulfil the roles of oversight, representation and Legislation. However, it is also argued that congress does successfully fulfil its role depending on which party is in control of the House and which is in control of the senate, therefore it can be argued that the powers congress has and how well they fulfil their roles are dependent on which party controls congress and which controls the white house. Congress has the power of oversight of the executive; one very important power relating to this is the power to override the presidential veto, this power of congress supports the argument that congress does remain a powerful body as they have the power to go against the presidents wishes. The separation of powers in the United States causes this power to be extremely effective, because they work independently, they can oversee the executive work and therefore hold them accountable. In addition, members of congress are experienced and therefore are very skilled at overseeing the work of the executive, an example of this is Senator Leahy, who has seen the confirmation of hundreds of federal judges who are appointed by the executive. However this power of oversight is limited mainly towards divided government, during a united government congress acts as a lapdog, and do not wish to embarrass the...
Words: 1565 - Pages: 7
...Plessy v Ferguson Constitutional Issue Dispute over legality of segregated railroads cars in Louisiana due to the 1890 Separate Car Act, which was in violation of the 14th Amendment Main Arguments Plaintiff- Homer Plessy was denied his rights under the 13th and 14th amendments The 14th amendment guaranteed rights to all citizens, and Plessy was being deprived of life, liberty and happiness Defendant- Judge John Ferguson ruled the state has a right to regulate railroads in its own boundaries In the Louisiana Courts, the argument was based off the North’s laws about intermixing and segregation could not be changed Decision of the Court 7-1 The Court found that there was no violation of the Fourteenth Amendment in the Separate Car Act. Rather the decision to stay separate was for public policy Justice Brown wrote “We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority” The Lone Dissenter, Justice Harlan, viewed the ruling as racist, and against American values He blasted the majority by explaining “There is no caste here. Our constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the...
Words: 1525 - Pages: 7
...delegates were chosen to amend the articles of confederation. The two major conflicts of the Philadelphia Convention were how each state was to be represented in congress, and how slaves were to be counted towards representation in the House of Representatives. The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan both presented very different ways of representation. The Virginia Plan proposed that representation be based on population, for a more proportional vote, but the New Jersey Plan proposed that each state has one vote, for a more equal vote. In order to resolve this issue of representation, a new plan was accepted that called for a congress of two houses: in the upper house, or Senate, representation of the states would be equal, with each state having two senators; in the lower house, or House of Representatives, representation would be apportioned according to population of each state, so the states with more people would get more representatives. This was known as the Great Compromise. Now that representation in the house was based on population, a new issue arose. How slaves should be counted towards representation. The South wanted to include slaves in order to get more...
Words: 707 - Pages: 3
...shocked the entire world when he took the lives of twenty students and six teachers at an elementary school in Connecticut (CNN). Horrific, terrifying, and saddening all describe the above-mentioned events. And as would be expected, each one of these events brought forth the question, “Where does the America draw the line between personal freedoms and the safety and well-being of her citizens?” The Second Amendment promises, “[…] the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” But, the recent shooting in Connecticut has caused the extremely emotionally charged arguments both for and against the ban of assault weapons to resurface within the United States Congress. This paper will provide an unbiased presentation of both arguments for and against the ban of assault weapons. Upon objectively presenting both sides of the argument, the paper will then proceed into developing a stance against the ban of assault weapons through the further discussion and elaboration upon the ideas As mentioned before, the Second Amendment specifically states...
Words: 2236 - Pages: 9
...enough in preventing the president from being imperial from the other branches of government. One argument that the Presidency is imperilled is that no President has been able to exert the same amount of power that Franklin D Roosevelt did during the 1930s and 40s. Roosevelt remains the President to have increased the role of the executive branch of government with his New Deal policies which created organisations such as EXOP. He also broke the convention that a President only stood for two terms, becoming the only President to be elected for four terms. However, once his presidency was over, the powers of the President were soon limited to prevent the President from becoming too powerful. The 23rd amendment ensured that a President would serve no more than two terms. Thus all the Presidents following FDR have been unable to demonstrate as much power as he did. Even his successor, President Truman, could not do as much in office as FDR, despite having to deal with the fallout from the end of World War Two. In contrast however, some Presidents have been able to show a large amount of power overseas, rather than in domestic affairs. The President’s power overseas may derive from his Constitutional role as ‘Commander in Chief’ and makes it difficult for Congress to interfere with his dealings abroad. Congress may have the power to declare war, but has not done so since 1941 against Japan, yet the US has deployed troops abroad many times since then. As a result, the President can...
Words: 1488 - Pages: 6
...after the completion of their sentence. Many people may have been against this bill because the criminal has shown that they cannot be trusted when they committed the crime in the first place, but I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. I went to procon.org, which has many arguments in favor of and in opposition to this bill. I looked at both views to try to create the best and most convincing argument I could for this particular bill. According to this website, ex-convicts do not lose all of their other civil rights, but their right to vote is taken away because people do not think they...
Words: 1007 - Pages: 5
