Constitutionality

The war on terror has brought forth various unexpected challenges for the United States. In many instances, as history has shown, the minority of those with power have imposed their own self-interest upon the majority of people with little to no power. To combat the abuse of such power, the Writ of Habeas Corpus was written into the Constitution to provide rights to individuals who have been accused of a crime, although select Presidents have found ways to circumvent that right and assert…

The Constitution sets limits in the actions of federal officials or institutions. Therefore, any other laws passed or enacted without a constitutional amendment is deemed invalid. Nevertheless, this issue has never been specifically addressed until 1803 when the case Marbury v Madison emerged. Conflict began as recently elected president Thomas Jefferson ordered his Secretary of State - James Madison to stop delivering the signed commissions to judges; William Marbury felt that he was deprived…

Kansas v Crane I. Synopsis Based off the 1997 previous case of Kansas v Hendricks that upheld the constitutionality of the Kansas Sexually Predator Act that confined persons who were likely to engage in sexual violence. In upholding the constitutionality, the court deemed that sexual offender confinement would now be considered civil instead of criminal. So when Michael Crane, who previously was a sex offender who had a mental abnormality was committed, the court found him to civil confinement.…

In the article “Death Penalty: Inhumane or Necessary Deterrent?” written by Euan McKirdy, several concepts surrounding the death penalty are discussed. McKirdy is a Digital News Producer who joined CNN in early 2014 and covers everything from politics, tech and the environment to sport and the arts. Before McKirdy started writing for CNN he wrote for a different publications and websites including Time, the BBC, the Wall Street Journal and Monocle. Throughout the article, McKirdy displays…

Chapter 15 There are two universal categories of law that American court cases proceed under. These two are called the criminal law and the civil law. In the United States, there are court systems at both the federal and state level. The federal courts decide cases addressing federal laws, treaties with other nations, and the Constitution, while the state courts hear only cases involving questions of state law. Only a very small percentage of the cases decided are heard in the federal courts.…

The United States Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal" took place in 1896 known as the Plessy vs Ferguson act. The Plessy V. Ferguson did not make it to where blacks and whites had all the same rights, but at the time, they thought that it was a good decision. Little did they know, less than a hundred years later would we be trying to integrate white and black schools. It…

Irreversible, Unlawful Tragedy There are two choices when it comes to the death penalty; supporting capital punishment or preferring a life sentence. There are many sides that support both arguments for the issue. Some of those include morality, constitutionality, innocence, the cost of the death penalty, and other factors like attorney quality or an unfair trial. (Deathpenalty.procon.org) All of those factors affect the decision in different ways, but all have their own characteristics. Every…

In a letter dated February 6, 1850, ailing South Carolina senator John C. Calhoun wrote to his friend Thomas G. Clemson about impending legislation addressing the constitutionality of slavery in the western reaches of the Union. Calhoun’s trepidation concerning the slavery question and is abundantly clear in the letter’s final two lines, in which he states- “Clay has offered what he calls a compromise, but will get little support. I do not see how the question can be settled”. The Henry…

for doctors and Americans forever. It is called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare. On that same day it was passed, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli challenged its constitutionality and filed a lawsuit against it with the support of thirteen other states (Tennant 1). The uncertainty…

Early in the 15th Century, men and women came to America in search of religious freedom from their very restrictive society. They wanted to be able to express their own beliefs without the retaliation of a higher power. In 1791, James Madison proposed that the Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution. Included in those Bill of Rights was the freedom of religion. This country was built on the idea that people were allowed to be whomever they wanted to be. They were allowed to express their…