James McCulloch v. State of Maryland 17 U.S. 316 Supreme Court of the United States Certiorari to the Maryland Court of Appeals Decided March 6, 1819 Facts and Procedural History: In 1816, Congress established the Second Bank of the United States, which became active in Maryland. In 1818, the Maryland legislature passed an Act to tax any bank not chartered by the Legislature of Maryland, thus taxing the U.S. Bank. The law provided for private remedies against the bank operators. One of these bank operators was James McCulloch, and the law provided the framework to seek remedy from him.…
Virginia: The democratic governor Terry McAuliffe said he restored voting rights for 13,000 felons who completed their sentences. The court said that McAuliffe didn't have the authority to restore the rights then more than 206,000.The Republican said they will be watching very closely to make sure the governor didn't violate the courts rule. Wisconsin&Ohio:…
Most people believe that the outcome of elections in Texas is decided by the voters, but in our current single-member district system of electing representatives, frequently that is not the case. Often times who will win in an election is decided long before election day, usually by those who draw the district lines. For example, if the districts in texas are drawn to be 65 percent republican then the outcome will most likely result in republicans that have the majority of seats in the legislature. In a single member district system, only one member can be elected to congress for each district, that is why drawing the district lines is by far one of the most important aspects for a party to win seats. The parties assure their representatives…
Judge Justice (along with the other judges) found that The Legislative Redistricting Board did not take redistricting seriously, but instead they did what they wanted. Another issue that was brought up in the case was the multimember districts in Dallas and Bexar. Representatives in these districts are elected but minorities seem to be underrepresented. The Legislative Redistricting Board had the lines drawn so there could be political success. The decision that was made brought controversy so this case was brought to the U.S. Supreme Court (White v. Regester) in which they agreed with the court’s decision.…
In The Week article “How to rig elections, the legal way”, The week staff describes how parties gain an advantage by redrawing voting districts. This process of redrawing voting districts to favor one’s political party is considered gerrymandering. It creates districts that are irregularly shaped and is a legal process unless it violates the 1965 voting rights act which makes it illegal to redistrict based off of minority voters. Gerrymandering has been successful in recent years because in 2012 gerrymandered states such as Pennsylvania won 49% of the vote and took 72% of house seats. Redistricting is overseen by whoever controls the state legislature and happens every ten years with data collected from the recent census.…
history, there have been about 700 failed proposals in Congress to change the electoral college system.” This is because Congress will not listen to what the American citizens have to say. The Electoral College violates the concept of political equality. Robert A. Dahl, a political theorist and Yale professor, argues “every member must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote, and all votes must be counted as equal.” Dahl proves a valid point.…
The Role of the Citizen in a Constitutional Democracy Despite major conflicts and social changes, the American Constitution has offered a framework of governance for over two hundred years. The Framers of the American constitution sought to create a government free of tyrannical rule—where power derives from the consent of the governed. The US constitution outlines a form of national government that aims to serve the American people by protecting their rights and liberties. The US constitution is succinct and difficult to amend; congress has only passed twenty-seven amendments since the ratification of the constitution. In this essay, I will analyze the arguments Robert Dahl’s presents in his book “How Democratic is the American Constitution”…
“The typical constitutional challenge is that a facially neutral ex-felon disenfranchisement law denies the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws because disenfranchisement has a discriminatory impact on racial minorities.” However, in order to prove that this is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment one must show that the “law has a disproportionate impact then demonstrate that discriminatory intent was a substantial or motivating factor in enactment.” This is difficult to prove and has only been done once before; additionally it is just as difficult to prove that voting restrictions violate the Voting Rights Act. While neither argument against disenfranchisement has been successful to bring about changes for felons and ex-felons voting rights, plaintiffs continue to challenge the law (Miles, 89-92). In the case Richardson v. Ramirez (1974), “three convicted felons challenged California’s laws disenfranchising persons convicted of a felony” (Steinacker, ).…
In the United States reapportionment and redistricting are both processes for deciding voting lines. Reapportionment is the process of reassessing the amount of congressional house seats for each state. Reapportionment is conducted through a census. This takes place every ten years, during which every person, citizen or not, is counted in each state. The process also decides the amount of votes each state gets for the electoral College.…
The latest discrepeancy between the two voting systems revived the debate about the best election method. George C. Edwards develops the argument about how the Electoral College, with a faulty system detrimental to democracy, should be replaced with direct election. The Electoral College fails in protecting American citizens and candidates. It does not protect minorities or third parties.…
As a country founded on the ideals of freedom and liberty, the United States of America created a Constitution with democracy at its core. Although the Framers strenuously debated on how democratic the Constitution should be, the product of their efforts produced a document that has served as the basis for the democratic republic that America is today. However, some individuals, such as Robert Dahl, a political theorist and an author, illustrate the specific areas of the Constitution that have failed to promote its democratic quality. One of his most tenacious arguments lies with the dysfunctionality of the Electoral College, which he regards as a major contribution to the undemocratic character of the Constitution. He provides two distinctive…
The main subject of the article is the controversy over the state’s redistricting plan and racial discrimination. Citizens and civil rights groups have started to challenge the discrimination in Texas elections. Texas is facing lawsuits over racial and political redistricting. The U.S. Supreme Court has also started to take action and implement laws to create change. The Voting Rights Act was created to prevent legal restrictions against minority redistricting.…
Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act is immensely vital. If it is not continuously ensured, then…
Established by the Founding Fathers in the Articles, particularly Article II, Section I, of the U.S. Constitution. The Electoral College is a process that is used for electing a President and Vice President of the United States. The Founding Fathers made this compromise for wanting the President elected by Congress and those who wanted direct election by the people. The process of the Electoral College includes the selection of electors, the gathering of electors when and where they vote for President and Vice President and the calculation of the electoral votes, which is done by Congress. In comparison, each state has as many electors in the Electoral College as it has Representatives and Senators in the U.S. Congress, District of Columbia…
In The University Of Pennsylvania Journal Of Constitutional Law, Celia Goetzl agrees: “Such policies stereotype, stigmatize, and criminalize the poor without cause” (2013, p.1541). Studies support the assertion that applicants for welfare are no more likely to have substance abuse issues than are the general public. Moreover, problems that have arisen with drug testing results due to faulty testing and results. According to Pollack, et al, “Suspicionless, population-based chemical testing of welfare recipients will detect some “true positives” who are drug-dependent, a greater number of “accidental positives” with complex psychological problems, and a larger group of “false positives” who have no apparent psychiatric (including drug-related) disorder” (2002, p. 30). In this study conducted over two a year span, “the categories of “false positives,” and “accidental positives” each outnumbered the “true positives”” (Pollack, Danziger, Jayakody, Seefeldt, 2002).…