US Past Supreme Court and Legislation Examples PDF

**[US:]** **Korematsu v. United States (1944):** ***Example of a Supreme Court Ruling.*** This case upheld the internment of Japanese American during WW2. This deferred military power from the court to Congress and the presidency in a time of war and arguably set a precedence over the removal of fr...

**[US:]** **Korematsu v. United States (1944):** ***Example of a Supreme Court Ruling.*** This case upheld the internment of Japanese American during WW2. This deferred military power from the court to Congress and the presidency in a time of war and arguably set a precedence over the removal of freedom during times of war. In 1988 Ronald Reagan would make a signing statement over a bill that would provide restitution for 60,000 surviving interned Japanese Americans where he would say that internment was a mistake. He also said that the bill was an admission of wrongdoing, but that it also reaffirmed the commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law. **Brown v. Board of Education (1954):** ***Example of Supreme Court Ruling and Federal Intervention in the States.*** This ruling stated that the segregation of schools by race was unconstitutional as it violated the 14^th^ amendment. This was met with opposition in the South. Specifically, the governor of Arkansas used the Arkansas National Guard to stop 9 black students from entering a high school in Little Rock. In response President Eisenhower asserted federal control over the Arkansas National Guard and sent in the US Army to ensure that black students could safely attend class. **War Powers Act (1973): *Example of the Legislative checking the Executive and of Veto Override.*** Because the US had been involved in Vietnam for many years without a declaration of war there were concerns over the erosion of congressional authority to declare war. This lead to the creation of this act which stipulated that the President must notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and says that the deployment of troops past 60 days would need congressional approval. President Nixon tried to veto this saying that it was dangerous and unconstitutionally restricted the president, but congress overrode the veto 284-135 in the House and 75-18 in the Senate. **Federal Elections Campaign Act, FECA (1974):** ***Example of Regulating Campaign Finance.*** This regulated federal campaign spending and fundraising by placing legal limits on campaign contributions where a person can only donate up to \$2700, and a group \$5000, to an individual candidate. It also created a maximum expenditure limit for each presidential candidate. It also aimed to increase the transparency in federal elections by making candidates disclose sources of campaign contributions as well as spending. This act also created Political Action Committees. Businesses and interest groups create PACs registered with the Federal Election Commission. It created a federal funding of presidential and primary elections which worked on a matching funds basis, but the qualify for this a party must receive 5% or more of the vote in a previous election. This 5% or more rule aided in keeping American politics being dominated by 2 parties as very few 3^rd^ parties got more than 5% of the vote. The main issue with FECA is that soft money cannot be regulated so businesses and interest groups can spend money on campaign advertising for or against a candidate without directly donating money to the candidate's campaign. Candidates have also become more effective at raising money without federal funds and if they reject federal funds then they are not restricted by expenditure limits. **Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1996):** ***Example of a treaty not being ratified by the Senate.*** This treaty was signed by the President Bill Clinton but was not ratified by the Senate due to concerns over the national security of the US. **Defence of Marriage Act, DOMA (1996): *Example of Statute Law.*** This act denied the recognition of same sex marriages federally which meant that the states had the right to choose whether or not they accepted same sex marriage. **Ralph Nader (2000):** ***Example of the Spoiler Effect.*** He ran in the 2000 general elections and his votes in Florida lead to Bush winning the state and the presidency by only 537 votes, although it was arguably poor ballot design that lead to him winning the votes. **No Child Left Behind: *Example of Statue Law.*** Standardised education in the US. Contrasts to the whole 9/11 things and can be applied to federalism. **9/11: *Example of how a Disaster can Change the Presidents Power and a Joint Session.*** After the terrorist attacks took place George Bush declared a state of emergency (Proclamation 7463) and used his powers as commander in chief to ensure military preparedness. The same night of the attacks he addressed the nation in a way that brought the American together and comforted them but also served to show resolve saying, "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them". These events and his response to 9/11 allowed George Bush to reach his peak approval rating of 90%. This, combined with the fact that it was still early on in his presidency, allowed him to have a strong mandate where he was able to push the PATRIOT Act through congress and go through with the War on Terror (which he declared in a joint session on September 20^th^) invading Afghanistan only 26 days after the attacks occurred. **Executive Order 13228 (2001): *Example of an Executive Order.*** This is an executive order passed by George Bush after 9/11 which set up and established Homeland Security. What homeland security does did exist before this order, but it was done over several department. What the executive order did is effectively take all of these powers and tasks from these departments and put it all into one which aimed to defend American soil. **Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002):** ***Example of Regulating Campaign Finance.*** This act was created in order to address issues with FECA. It banned soft money donations to national parties and said that soft money donations to local parties/candidates cannot be used to support federal candidates. It also said that issue adverts could not be funded directly by unions or corporations. It said that issue adverts mentioning a candidate's name could not be shown within 60 days of an election or 30 days of a primary unless approved by 1 of the candidates, this would mean that the money spent on the issue advert would be a part of the president's campaign and thus be covered by spending regulation. **Weapons of Mass Destruction (2003):** ***Example of the War on Terror and the use of Commander in Chief Powers.*** Following intelligence reports the Bush administration believed there to be WMDs in Iraq. This led to the invasion of the country with the aim to disarm Iraq of their supposed WMDs and to end Saddam Husseins support for terrorism. In the past the US had strained relations with Iraq and had previously conducted bombings in the country during Operation Desert Fox (1998). During the 2000 election campaigns the Bush administration called for the removal of Saddam Hussein but there was little movement in this until 9/11. In the following days following the 9/11 attacks the administration debated an invasion of Iraq and justifications for the invasion. During the State of the Union Adress Bush called Iraq a member of the "Axis of Evil" which set the groundwork for an invasion of Iraq. The invasion itself lasted 22 days. It was legal in US law for Bush to invade Iraq as congress voted in favour for authorising the use of military force against Iraq in 2002, whether or not it was legal internationally does not matter to the US. There was a UN inspection before the invasion which declared it had found no WMDs in Iraq, after the invasion there were no WMDs found either. **Hurricane Katrina (2005): *Example of how a Disaster can Change the Presidents Power.*** Katrina was one of the most devastating disasters to happen during the Bush presidency and his poor response to the disaster affected his approval rating negatively where by 2006 his average approval rating was 40%. **PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorisation Act (2006): *Example of a Signing Statement.*** The PATRIOT Act is a piece of legislation that was passed in response to 9/11. The act allowed the US to use counter terrorism measures such as tapping domestic and international phones and more surveillance. Most of the provisions of the act were set to expire in 2005 but Congress voted to extend the provisions of the Act with the Reauthorisation Act. In his signing statement Bush emphasised the importance of the act in the war on terror and even referred to America as a nation at war. This is significant because the PATRIOT act arguably violates civil rights such as right to privacy and right to a fair trial, and also allows for the use of 'advanced interrogation techniques' (torture) in Guantanamo Bay.  **Reauthorisation of State Children\'s Health Insurance Program, SCHIP (2007):** ***Example of a Veto.*** SCHIP was created in 1997 with the aim to cover uninsured children in families with low incomes but not low enough to qualify for Medicaid. When it was originally created it was only a 10-year plan, so it required reauthorisation to continue past 2007. When Congress made the reauthorisation, they aimed to expand SCHIP by \$35 billion over five years which would have covered approximately 10 million more children. He vetoed it because he said that the expansion would shift children away from private healthcare and towards government run healthcare **Great Recession (2008): *Example of how a Disaster can affect Legislative Goals.*** The global recession in 2008 occurred while Bush was still in office, and he responded by giving large government bailouts. Notably he passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to stabilise the banking system. Despite this, Bush faced criticism for his role in deregulating the financial market and his perceived failure in preventing the crash from happening in the first place. Bush's approval rating would reach a low of 25% at this point but this didn't affect him as he was already in his 2^nd^ term, it can be argued that this helped Obama win the election as Bush's approval ratings affected the ratings of the Republican Party as a whole. Obama was elected on the platform of increasing access to healthcare, but he had to delay this due to the financial crash. He had to focus on passing legislation to fix the American economy and help American citizens recover from the crash which would harm his future Affordable Care Act as by the time that had passed, he had already lost the strength of his mandate which would be shown in his loss of the 2010 midterm elections. **American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009): *Example of a Bill getting through due to Presidential Control of Congress.*** This was a stimulus package signed by Obama with the primary objective of saving existing jobs and create new ones as soon as possible. It also provided temporary relief programs for those most affected by the recession and invested in infrastructure, education, health, and renewable energy. At the time of passage, the estimated cost was \$787 billion. The politics around it was contentious with Republicans criticising the size of the stimulus. This act spurred on the Tea Party movement which may have contributed to the 2010 loss for Obama. Aside from 3 Republican senators no republican voted for the stimulus in Congress, it is important to note that the Democrats had 257 seats in the House and 59 senators while the Republicans only had 178 seats and 41 senators. **The Tea Party Movement (2009):** ***Example of a Right-Wing Populist Movement.*** A fiscally conservative opposition to the massive bailouts and stimulus packages. They targeted both parties blaming them for government overreach, high taxes, and a rapidly rising national deficit. They said that regular American's had been taxed enough. **Affordable Care Act (ACA), Obamacare (2010): *Example of Achieving a Legislative Goal.*** Obama had been elected on a campaign where healthcare was central having said that fixing healthcare would be 1 of his top 4 priorities as president. In 2009 he announced in a joint session of Congress that he would work with congress to construct a plan for healthcare reform. The eventual plan that was passed led to an expansion in Medicaid and Medicare eligibility, and increased funding for both. In the private insurance market, the plan forced insurers to accept all applicants without charging based on preexisting conditions, it also required everyone to have insurance, or they would face a penalty. There was major opposition to the bill by the Republicans, but Obama was able to pass the bill due to the Democratic control of congress. If the states did not join into Obamacare, they would not receive any Medicare funding but clause was struck down in a Supreme Court case. **Obama losing 2010 midterms leading to budget disagreements: *Example of How the Presidents Power is Limited by Congress.*** In November 2010 Obama lost the midterm elections with Republicans winning the House and gaining seats in the Senate, but not winning it. Some people say that it was the passing of the ACA along with poor economic recovery from 2008 and large budget deficits that led to the Democrats losing. After the loss Obama had more difficulty in passing legislation and had to turn to a more bipartisan way of passing legislation, but he also turned to using more executive orders and vetoes. Before 2010 he used 66 executive orders, after 2010 he used 210, an example of one of these executive orders is executive order 13492 which ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay. The main effect of the loss of the House was over budget disagreements where the House did not agree with Obamas spending plans. This led to a government shutdown in 2013 and a near shutdown in 2015. This led to Obama being forced to accept a lowering of the budget spending. **Citizens United v. FEC (2010):** ***Example of Unregulating Campaign Finance.*** The supreme court ruled that corporations, unions, and other organisations had a 1^st^ amendment right to spend what they want to influence federal elections. The ruling was made on the idea that the disclosure of these investments would act as a natural check against improper activities. The ruling lead to there being a wave of PACs, Super PACs, and 'dark money' groups (which don't have to reveal their donors). In 2015 Justice Kennedy said that the ruling wasn't working the way it was intended to. **The Occupy Movement, New York (2011): *Example of a Left-Wing Populist Movement.*** Activists referred to themselves as the 99% in protest of the concentration of wealth in the hands of the top 1%. They argued that financial institutions were being given massive financial bailouts by governments while ordinary American's faced job losses and homelessness. They are called the occupy movement because their main form of protest and bringing attention to their cause is done through occupying streets and financial districts to disrupt the city. For example, they occupied Zuccotti Park of New Yorks Financial District for 59 days, they also marched across Brooklyn Bridge which resulted in 768 arrests. **Bombing of Libya (2011): *Example of the use of the Commander in Chief Powers.*** NATO as a whole decided to intervene in Libya to enact a UN resolution to protect the Libyan people during the 1^st^ Libyan Civil War (in reality the US hated Gaddafi and used the UN resolution and NATO as a proxy to remove him). Congress voted against the authorisation to continue US involvement for up to a year, they also passed a resolution that demanded the withdrawal of troops from Libya and criticised Obama for not providing a "compelling rationale" for the involvement. Obama did not withdraw any troops and the whole operation lasted 7 months, Obama said that he wouldn't withdraw troops as it was no longer his role as president to be involved in Libya but rather it was the role of the US as a member of NATO and the UN and his responsibility to ensure that the US follows the UN resolution. **Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (2012): *Example of a Memorandum.*** This is an immigration policy that allowed some undocumented migrants who entered the US as children. This allowed them to receive a renewable 2-year period of deferred action from deportation and allowed them to be eligible for employment in the US. **Arizona v. United States (2012): *Example of the Supreme Court Ruling over State Legislature.*** In 2010 the Arizona state government signed a law that forced immigrants to carry registration documents. It immediately sparked concern over potential civil rights violations and racial profiling done by police officers. The law got taken to court and eventually a case in the supreme court opened in 2012. The Supreme Court then ruled that since immigration was an enumerated power federal law took precedence over state law and thus made the Arizona law null and void. **Cole Memo, Marijuana Legalisation (2013): *Example of a Memorandum and Expansion of State Power.*** Oregon and Washington both held referendums to make marijuana legal, both of them passed. The Obama administration then sent out a memo which said that the federal government wouldn't intervene except for in a few scenarios including: if marijuana was distributed to minors, prevent revenue from going to gangs, prevent marijuana from going to other states, etc. While marijuana is legal at state level it's still illegal on the federal level. This leads to strange scenarios like the 'Green Lady Dispensary' in Massachusetts. Because it's on an island it means that it cannot import weed and has to grow everything on the island. This is because all waters in the united states are owned by the federal government. This means that, since marijuana is still illegal federally, any marijuana that is transported over federal water is illegal. **United States v. Windsor (2013) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): *Example of the Supreme Court Nullifying an Old Act and Reducing State Power.*** a same-sex couple got married in New York but then 1 spouse died. When Windsor (the other spouse) went to claim tax exemption for surviving spouses she was blocked by DOMA. She brought this to the courts which sided with her and eventually the Supreme Court also sided with her and stated that DOMA was unconstitutional as it violated the Due Process clause of the 5^th^ amendment. Similarly, the Obergefell v. Hodges case ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples under the Due Process Clause and the equal protection clause of the 14^th^ amendment. This means that all the states have to perform and recognise same-sex marriage on the same terms as opposite-sex marriage **McCutcheon v. FEC (2014):** ***Example of Unregulating Campaign Finance.*** This ruling effectively states that FEC cannot cap individual donations as it is unconstitutional due to free speech. **Keystone XL Pipeline Veto (2015):** ***Example of the President checking Congress and of how the President can have little Impact Long-Term.*** The Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act was passed in early 2015, it aimed to expand the already existing Keystone pipeline which transported oil from Canada to the US. There were large concerns over the environmental damage the pipeline would cause and climate change, there was also criticism from the Environmental Protection Agency over a lack of oil spill response plans. When the bill reached Obama's office to be signed into law, he vetoed it. The plan did not go through after the vetoed as it was failed to be overturned. However, in 2017 during his first week in office president Trump signed a memorandum that revived the pipeline, and it was set to be built. After 4 years of legal battles and other bureaucracies Joe Biden entered office in 2021 and on his first day revoked the permit to build the pipeline. The project is now abandoned with only about 8% of it having ever been constructed. **Berine Sanders (2016): *Example of a Candidate rejecting Donations.*** In the 2016 Democratic Primaries the same people behind the Occupy Movement played a significant role in helping Bernie Sanders (unknown at the time) to win several primaries before losing to Hilary Clinton. During his campaign he continuously criticised the influence of wealthy elites and large corporations on the democrat establishment claiming that they had gone out of touch with the ordinary people. He rejected large corporate donations and relied on small, individual contributions. **Trump trying to force the Wall through (2017-2019):** ***Example of the President achieving a Legislative Goal, using Commander in Chief Powers, and abusing Democracy.*** During the 2016 election campaign Trump promised to build a wall along the Mexican border to reduce the amount of Mexican immigrants entering the US. In his first month in office Trump signed an executive order which directed the government to begin construction using existing federal funds. Construction did not actually begin after this order due to the lack of clarity in how it would be paid for. Throughout early 2018 he managed to get some small funds for the wall which he called 'down payments' but nothing concrete for long term funding was passed. From December 2018 to January 2019 the government partially shutdown due to Trump declaring that he would veto any spending bill that did not include \$5 billion in funding for the wall. During this shutdown Trump claimed that former presidents privately told him that they should have built a wall. Every living former president denied this. The shutdown lasted 35 days, the longest in US history. In 2019 Trump used a proclamation to declare a national emergency on the southern border which gave him access to funds which would have allowed him to build the wall. Congress then passed a resolution which rejected his declaration of an emergency, but Trump vetoed this. A lawsuit filed in El Paso then produced a ruling which said that Trump's ruling was unlawful as it failed to meet the National Emergencies Act's definition of an emergency. In the end Trump had to use his powers as commander in chief to redirect military funding to the wall which is how it eventually got kind of built. It's a fence. **Trump's Supreme Court Appointments (2017, 2018, 2020): *Example of how the President can have a Long-Term Impact.*** During his 1^st^ term Donald Trump was able to appoint 3 Supreme Court justices. The first was Neil Gorsuch (2017), the next was Brett Kavanaugh (2018), and the last was Amy Coney Barett (2020). The first 2 appointments were met with a filibuster by the Democrats, both of which failed. Notably, Kavanaugh had 3 sexual assault allegations made against him, but no charges or federal prosecutions were made. The senate only ratified his appointment 50-48. The effect of Trump's extraordinary amount of appointments had long lasting affects as it shifted the court to be more conservative. This was especially shown with the case of Dobbs v. Jackson which occurred during Bidens presidency. **Trumps withdrawal from the Paris Agreement (2017):** ***Example of a Treaty.*** literally just the title. He didn't need congressional approval. **Trump Travel Ban (2017) and Trump v. Hawaii (2018): *Example of a Supreme Court Ruling.*** Trump used an executive order to restrict entry by certain foreign nationals. The ban contained countries that were predominantly Muslim and as such people started calling it a Muslim Ban. He then amended this by using a proclamation to add North Korea and Venezuela onto the travel ban, and those aren't predominantly Muslim countries, so Trump obviously isn't Islamophobic. Hawaii and a few other states and groups challenged the travel ban. The travel ban had previously faced an injunction from the lower courts, but the Supreme Court ruled that the travel ban was within the presidents' power and lifted the injunction which put the travel ban in effect. **Trumps Impeachments (2019 and 2021): *Example of Congress checking the President.*** Trump was impeached once in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he solicited foreign interference in the 2020 election. He solicited interference by withholding military aid to Ukraine to influence them into announcing an investigation into Joe Biden, and to promote a discredited theory that it was Ukraine and not Russia behind the 2016 election interference. The obstruction of congress came after he told officials in his administration to ignore subpoenas for documents and testimony which obstructed the investigation. His second impeachment was for incitement of an insurrection after January 6^th^. **Roe v. Wade (1973) and Dobbs v. Jackson (2022): *Example of a Supreme Court Ruling Expanding Federalism, and of the Long-Term Effects of a President.*** Roe v. Wade was a supreme court case that protected the right to abortions in the US which forced all states to have abortion be legal. Dobbs v. Jackson overturned the Roe ruling and left the decision to abortion up to the states. It is important to note that despite there being a long history of anti-choice movements in the US this case was only overturned due to Donald Trump's 3 Supreme Court Justice appointments which shifted the court decidedly conservative. The Dobbs case came because of an interest group challenged an abortion law in Mississippi. **Republican Primary, 2024: *Example of How Voter Demographics Affect Outcomes.*** In the New Hampshire primary Trump beat Nikki Haley 54% to 43%; he won voters without college degrees 67% to 31%. **Biden Pardoning his Son (2024): *Example of Corruption.*** Hunter Biden was charged with multiple offences 3 were gun charges and 9 counts of failing to pay taxes from 2016 to 2019. As Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 elections, he pardoned his son from all of these charges. **The Interstate Commerce Clause: *Example of the Constitution Increasing Federal Power.*** The commerce clause is an enumerated power which says that only congress holds the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and between states. This has generally been used to expand federal power over the states but there are cases such as United States v. Lopez (1995) which ruled that Gun-Free School Zones Act was outside of Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce as gun possession was not economic activity. **The Due Process Clause, 5^th^ Amendment: *Example of the Constitution Protecting Rights.*** This clause prohibits the depravation of life, liberty, or property without fair treatment through a normal judicial system. This clause is also found in the 14^th^ Amendment. **1^st^ Amendment: *Example of How the Amendments Protect Rights.*** This is the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. It is important for the protection of basic civil rights in the US **9^th^ and 10^th^ Amendment: *Example of the Amendments Protects Federalism.*** The first 10 amendment of the US is called the Bill or Rights and as its name says it protects people's rights in the US. The 9^th^ amendment says that rights which are not enumerated in the Constitution are retained by the people and not the federal government. The 10^th^ amendment does not protect people's rights but rather state rights as it says that the federal government only possesses rights delegated or enumerated to it by the Constitution, all remaining powers are reserved by the states or the people. **13^th^ Amendment: *Example of How the Amendments Protect and don't Protect Rights.*** This bans slavery and involuntary servitude. However, there is a clause in this amendment that exempts prisoners. This clause has unfortunately been abused in the US which, despite being home to only 5% of the world population, is home to 25% of the world's prisoners. Watch 13^th^ on Netflix for more info. **14^th^ Amendment:** This defines citizenship in America and says that all citizens have equal protection which cannot be taken away without due process. **18^th^ and 21^st^ Amendment:** ***Example of Constitutional Evolution.*** The 18^th^ amendment banned the manufacturing and sale of alcohol; this ban was then lifted by the 21^st^ Amendment. **22nd Amendment: *Example of Congress checking the President through Amendments.*** This amendment limited the number of terms a president can serve. Originally presidents only served 2 terms as a convention as the 1^st^ president, George Washington, only served 2 terms himself. There had been cases of presidents trying to run for a 3^rd^ term, but these attempts failed until FDR. He ran for 4 terms due to his presidency being situated around WW2. This amendment was created as a direct result of him. It took almost 4 years for this amendment to be ratified. **Equal Rights Amendment: *Example of a Failed Amendment.*** This amendment was proposed in 1923 and explicitly prohibited gender-based discrimination. This was obviously pushed by liberal voters and politicians especially as it was occurring during the era of women's suffrage. Interestingly, working class voters did not support this proposed amendment because they believed that this amendment would push women out of domestic homemaking positions and into work which would threaten their way of life. Modern proponents of the amendment believe it would end the distinction between men and women in the eyes of the law-making divorce cases, employment cases and whatever else more equal. Modern opponents of it continue to argue that it would remove some protections from women and lead to women being drafted in the case of war, how unfair. When the 14^th^ amendment was adopted the Equal Protection Clause did not include to women. This is why the ERA was proposed. Eventually in 1972 the Supreme Court extended the EPC to include women. For some this still not enough as it does not protect women constitutionally and because the Supreme Court could, in theory, rescind this ruling and exclude women from the EPC, but this isn't likely. The ERA was passed through the Representatives in 1971 by 354-24, and through the Senate in 1972 by 84-8. There was an extended deadline for the amendment to be ratified by 1982 but only 35 states of the required 38 ratified it leading to it never becoming an amendment. As of January 2020, 38 states have ratified it as 3 states did ratify the amendment recently. Since this was past the deadline it wasn't made an amendment, btu this does show the support the amendment still has in modern times despite its lack of discussion. **House Freedom Caucus: *Example of a Group within Congress.*** This is the most economically and socially conservative group in the Republicans. It was formed to criticise the Republican establishment saying that it was compromising too much with the Democrats and President Obama, particularly on issues with federal spending and immigration reform. In 2023 the Freedom Caucus threatened to shut down government and allow the US to default on its debts, they passed a motion to remove Republican speaker McCarthy for compromising with Democrats and obstructed House floor proceedings to protest appropriation bills they opposed. **Congressional Progressive Caucus: *Example of a Group within Congress.*** This is the most left-wing group in the Democrats and includes a number of members who support Bernie Sanders and the Occupy Movement. The group says that more moderate democrat leaders should go further in their addressing of economic inequality, social justice, and negative impacts of globalisation. They want universal healthcare, a secure living wage, criminal justice, immigration reform, reduced military expenditure, and racial equality. **Interest Groups: *Examples of their successes and failures.*** - **Successes:** - The NRA has been successful at blocking gun control and restriction laws at a federal level. On a state level their success varies with some states having strict carry laws, but buying a gun is still legal in every state. - The Human Rights Campaign has been successful in advancing LGBTQ rights. As a big example they have done this particularly well through legal action like with Obergefell v. Hodges. - **Failures:** - Pro-choice groups have had significant failure with the Supreme Court ruling of Dobbs v. Jackson. - Pro-immigration groups have failed with failed passage of the Dream Act which would have protected the rights of and give temporary conditional residency to illegal immigrants who entered the US as minors.