Civics and Politics: Free Response #4

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Free Response #4

The Constitution was an attempt to address problems of decentralization that were experienced under the Articles of Confederation.

a) List three problems of decentralized power that existed under the Articles of Confederation. For each problem you list, identify one solution that the Constitution provided to address the problem.

b) Some have argued that the tensions between decentralized and centralized powers continue to exist. Support this argument by explaining how one of the following illustrates the continuing tensions.
-Environmental Policy
-Gun Control
-Disability Access

Write out a response to be graded in class. Due Monday, April 19th

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Judicial Retirement

Judicial Retirement The judiciary is a fascinating branch of the government. Although there are only 9 Supreme Court Justices, they can strike down laws and actions of the entire legislative and executive branches. Look at the facts and the web sites below, answer the question at the bottom of the page on the blog. Judicial Facts : Only Supreme Court justice to run for president: Charles E. Hughes resigned in 1916. Lost to Wilson. Only president to become Supreme Court justice: Taft First Catholic justice: Taney 1836 First Jewish justice: Brandeis 1916 First Black justice: Marshall 1967 First woman justice: O’Connor 1981 Only 4 presidents appointed no Supreme Court justices: Harrison, Taylor, A Johnson, Carter Supreme Court was not given a building of its own until 1935, It first assembled in 1790 in New York City, then the nation’s capital. The average tenure of a Supreme Court Justice is 15 years. The average age of the Supreme Court Justices is 71 1/3 of all Supreme Court justices have served beyond age 75. 2010 Supreme Court Name/Birth/Appt/Retire*/P*/Ph*/Law /Prez* /Religion /Prior Judicial Roberts /1955/ 2005/ 2030/ R/ C/ Harvard/ Bush/ Catholic US Court Appeals Stevens/ 1920/ 1975/ 2001/ R/ M/ Chicago/ Ford/ Non-dem. Prot./ US Court Appeals Alito /1950/ 2006/ 2030/ R/ C/ Yale/ Bush/ Catholic/ US Court of Appeals Scalia/ 1936/ 1986/ 2017/ R/ C/ Harvard/ Reagan/ Catholic/ US Court Appeals Kennedy/ 1936/ 1988/ 2017/ R/ C/ Harvard/ Reagan/ Catholic/ US Court Appeals Sotomayor/ 1954/ 2009/ 2033/ I/ M/ Yale/ Obama/ Catholic/ US Court Appeals Thomas/ 1948/ 1991/ 2029/ R/ C/ Yale/ Bush/ Catholic/ US Court Appeals Ginsburg/ 1933/ 1993/ 2009/ D/ M/L/ Columbia/ Clinton/ Jewish/ US Court Appeals Breyer/ 1938/ 1994/ 2019/ D/ M/ Harvard/ Clinton/ Jewish/ US Court Appeals *Retire = Projected Retirement*P = Party*Ph = Philosophy*Prez = Appointing president Web sites about Judicial Retirementhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6602068/http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20010720.html">http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20010720.html (you can join in their message board!)http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/7/6/3/1/pages176319/p176319-1.php Respond to the following There is a proposal that all Justices be appointed for 15 years, with a cap on age 75 and a grandfather (so to speak) clause for the present members of the court. Write a well reasoned response to this proposal explaining why you support or oppose it. Place your response in the blog below.

The Incumbency Advantage

Read the following and post responses due date: to be determined

The Incumbency Advantage

Candidate-centered voting is a great major advantage to incumbent members of Congress. Incumbents, in general, receive far more exposure on television and in newspapers than those challenging them. With greater media exposure and substantial influence over public policy, incumbents are also able to raise far greater sums of money with which to campaign. For these reasons and more, incumbents who run for reelection are very likely to win. In 2002, 398 House members ran for reelection, and only 16 were defeated, while a mere three out of 26 senators running for reelection lost. With a reelection rate of 88 percent for the Senate and 96 percent for the House, it is fair to say that congressional elections are not just candidate centered but incumbent centered as well. Incumbency advantages involve the ability of congressman to make themselves popular with the voters in their district. Thus they can insulate themselves from regular party voting. Regular party voting is voting your partisan identification. A congressman that makes himself personally popular doesn’t have to worry about the ebb and flow of popularity for Democrats or Republicans as a whole. Thus they can insulate themselves from challengers.

Assessing the Incumbency Advantage

Most incumbents who run for re-election get reelected. Since WWII, 92% of incumbents who ran for reelection got reelected. The incumbency advantage can be a bit overstated, though. Not much competition. – Quality challengers (not some fresh face out of law school) do not typically choose to run when there is little chance. Incumbents who are vulnerable don’t have to run for reelection. The vulnerable incumbent can (and often do) retire. Thus they self-select out of reelection.

Causes of Incumbency Advantage

Experience – an incumbent by definition is experienced. He or she has already won at least one election. They have ideas on what to do to get elected. Franking – congressional privilege that allows congresspersons to send out mail to their constituents FOR FREE. It’s in the Constitution. Challengers don’t get to send out free mail to the district or state. Free Media – local media like covering congressman. Furthermore, they can go on national TV shows, they have an office in Washington that can create media releases. Money – congressman bring federal spending into their local areas to benefit the district (which thus increases goodwill in the district for you). Naturally challengers can’t do this. Casework – when individual constituents have a problem and call their congressman. It’s an easy, non-controversial way of making voters happy. People helped (no matter what party) will be more likely to vote for him and they will tell their friends. A large proportion of their staff is dedicated to doing casework. Campaign finance – the ability to raise money. They have a big advantage over challengers because they are already in congress with a vote over legislation and thus interest groups will attempt to influence them (whatever their party).

SC Cases

Supreme Court Cases

Case Name:

Case Date:

Chief Justice:

Details of case: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Synopsis of Majority Opinion: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Synopsis of Dissenting Opinion:
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Constitutional Significance:
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Race Tests

Race tests

Implicit Attitudes Test
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/Click on the link to demonstration Click on the link to general information about IATAfter you have as much information as you want click on the link to "I wish to proceed"Take all of the following tests about your implicit preferences. Race IATGender-Career IATArab-Muslim IATIf you have time, choose one other test to take

Alabama Literacy Test Simulator http://kpearson.project.tcnj.edu/interactive/imm_files/test.htmlYou don’t have to take the whole test (although you can). Just get a feel for the test and whether you would pass it or not.

The Living Room Candidate* http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/*If you have extra time (unlikely) you can check out this moving web site.

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