...Sonia Sotomayor is one of our 9 Supreme Court Justices today. She is born and raised from the Bronx, New York. Born on June 25th, 1954 to Juan and Celina Baez- Sotomayor, and she is the older sibling of the two children they have. Her upbringing through childhood was pretty well off. While her mother was a nurse, her father was a tool and dye worker. Sonia’s father passed away in 1963, which left her mother behind being a single mom. Her mother’s goal while raising her two children alone was to be sure her children would be successful, she strived for this. Sonia graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx in 1972. From there, she started school at Princeton University. She got discouraged quickly while attending Princeton due to receiving a not so well-off grade on a midterm. She...
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...and gentlemen, and welcome to this celebration of the Hispanic Heritage Month. It is my distinct honor to speak to you today. Hispanic culture is deeply intertwined with the history of this Nation. We live on the same side of the world with the largest Spanish speaking population due to our proximity to Mexico, Central, South America and the Caribbean. So it is important to recognize the contributions of the Hispanic culture as well as other cultures to celebrate and acknowledge how the history, culture, values and traditions of the United States were and continue to be shaped by the make-up of its ever changing population profile. When I started to think about what I would say, it occurred to me that perhaps I should do a little research and review history instead of presuming I know everything about my heritage. I am glad I did because I learned many facts that challenged my own understanding of history. I want to share some of these facts with you today. On September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, observed during the week that included Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. The observance was expanded in 1989 by Congress to a month long celebration (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15), America celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Sept. 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because...
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...| APPEALS PROCESS | Describing the appeals process | | Ashlee Flemimg | 2/12/2012 | Abstract An appeal in the criminal law system is a defendant’s way of challenging the court’s decision. In this paper I will discuss what an appeal is, how it factors into the overall procedures and process of the criminal system. How the appeals process may be improved. Steps in the appeals process and an example case of an appeal. And why the example case appeal did or did not succeed. Introduction A defendant can challenge is conviction by filling an appeal to have the conviction overturned. The first appeal filed in most cases in the Federal System and most State Court systems is an appeal of the Statutory Right. If they lose the appeals under the statutory right they may then appeal to the State Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court. But in most cases a defendant does not have the right to file such an appeal. The Supreme Court must agree to hear the defendant’s case. But defendant needs to remember that an Appeals Court is not automatically required to review a case. What is an appeal? An appeal is a petition to a higher court for review of a case that has already been decided by a lower court of law. The petition is made for the purpose of having the lower court’s decision overturned. How do appeals factor into the overall criminal procedures and processes? Merely filing an appeal does not automatically mean that a defendant will find it easy to have the court...
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...Chapter Study Questions Exam Five 2305 (Chapters 4, 5, and 9) The Enduring Democracy Third Edition, 2013-2014, Dautrich and Yalof, Cengage Publishing. Be sure to skip a line between the question and the answer and skip another line before the next question. Chapter Four: Civil Liberties 1. What are civil liberties and when did individual rights recognized by government first appear in a legal charter? What charter? 73 - Those specific individual rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be denied to citizens by government. Most of these rights are in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. The original English legal charter, the Magna Carta of 1215. 2. How are civil liberties different from civil rights? 73 - Civil liberties may be distinguished from civil rights (sometimes called equal rights), which refer to rights that members of various groups (racial, ethnic, sexual, and so on) have to equal treatment by government under the law and equal access to society’s opportunities. 3. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts and were editors if newspapers actually jailed? 74 - Alien Act, which authorized the president to deport from the United States all aliens suspected of “treasonable or secret” inclinations; the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the president during wartime to arrest aliens subject to an enemy power; and the Sedition Act, which criminalized the publication of materials that brought the U.S. government...
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...GENDER-BASED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND REVERSE GENDER BIAS: BEYOND GRATZ, PARENTS INVOLVED, AND RICCI ROSALIE BERGER LEVINSON* I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II. History Behind the Affirmative Action Race/Gender Anomaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III. The Circuit Split on the Race/Gender Conundrum . . . . . . . . . IV. Analogy to Race-Based Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Remedial Purpose as a Justification for Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B. The Diversity Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C. The Arguments Against Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . V. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I. INTRODUCTION The blockbuster race discrimination cases in recent years have all involved affirmative action and reverse discrimination. The Supreme Court has made it clear that race classifications, whether benign or invidious, will trigger rigid strict scrutiny analysis, which requires that the government prove its program is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. In 2003, the Court, in Gratz v. Bollinger,1 ruled that while student diversity in educational institutions may be a compelling interest, an affirmative action program...
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...RULE 101. SCOPE; DEFINITIONS (a) Scope. These rules apply to proceedings in United States courts. The specific courts and proceedings to which the rules apply, along with exceptions, are set out in Rule 1101. (b) Definitions. In these rules: (1) “civil case” means a civil action or proceeding; (2) “criminal case” includes a criminal proceeding; (3) “public office” includes a public agency; (4) “record” includes a memorandum, report, or data compilation; (5) a “rule prescribed by the Supreme Court” means a rule adopted by the Supreme Court under statutory authority; and (6) a reference to any kind of written material or any other medium includes electronically stored information. RULE 102. PURPOSE These rules should be construed so as to administer every proceeding fairly, eliminate unjustifiable expense and delay, and promote the development of evidence law, to the end of ascertaining the truth and securing a just determination. RULE 103. RULINGS ON EVIDENCE (a) Preserving a Claim of Error. A party may claim error in a ruling to admit or exclude evidence only if the error affects a substantial right of the party and: (1) if the ruling admits evidence, a party, on the record: (A) timely objects or moves to strike; and (B) states the specific ground, unless it was apparent from the context; or (2) if the ruling excludes evidence, a party informs the court of its substance by an offer of proof, unless the substance was apparent from the context. (b) Not Needing...
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