DC Gov Notes PDF

Our constitution does not give individual people power instead institutions have power which has both pros and cons Constitutions are legal documents, which means two things: explain structures and explain power. Including limitations of power Chamber: also referred to as houses, they serve as sma...

Our constitution does not give individual people power instead institutions have power which has both pros and cons Constitutions are legal documents, which means two things: explain structures and explain power. Including limitations of power Chamber: also referred to as houses, they serve as small institutions within a larger institution Ratify: consent to legal instrument Article 1: legislative branch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Article 2: Executive Branch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Article 3: Judicial Branch Creates one court the Supreme Court - no United States court is above the supreme court and other smaller courts were made when necessary - the only cases the Supreme Court can take deal with constitutional data or foreign affairs Courts interpret laws Article 4:issues related to states Section 1: full faith and credit clause - two exam questions - full faith and credit should be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state - respect shall be given to each state, every state shall respect the stuff that happens in other states - records and judicial proceedings (drivers license, marriage licenses) Privileges and immunities clause - citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states - discrimination - rights given to one state must be respected in another state - states can not be discriminate against a person from a different state - the state cant deny you certain rights, make you pay higher taxes and overall higher prices all because you are form a different state Article 5: amendment process - Proposal of an amendment - it is an idea of a change but it is not real yet - congress passes what looks like the law to bring forth an idea, in order for it to become real ⅔ of the 435 have to approve then it goes to the senate and ⅔ have to approve - constitutional convention called by the states ⅔ (38 states) have to agree in a vote to draft a letter and mail it to congress the congress must call a convection of proposing amendments - anything can be up for change - Article 6: Miscellaneous - - Article 7: ratification Ratification article of this constitution ( first constitution was articles of confederation) In order for this to be the new constitution 9 states had to ratify for this constitution to replace the articles of confederation - which ended up happening Lecture 3&4 In the political elite society ended with two different sides: Federalists - sought ratification of the constitution - strong central government - James Madison, Hamilton Anti-Federalists - fought ratification of the constitution - favored more state power/local governance 85 Federalist papers talk about why it is important and similar with anti-Federalists but instead, they write about why it should not happen Same argument different views - the main problem is we are the problem People will find common interests, and create factions (groups) - Factions that can become mischievous Madison writes that we make these bonds because it is what we are bound to do and it will eventually become something bad - He says we are so rotten to are core when we make a group and anyone is not part of that group we will try to fight them The constitution will help control these factions - everyone agrees factions are a problem - One of madison\'s ideas was to get rid of everyone\'s liberty which will allow factions to not occur but he says it is unrealistic and will never happen - his other idea was to make everyone agree which also is not realistic - which is what sparked the idea of a constitution (a strong central government) Hamilton argues that people are selfish and corrupted and when we have power we tend to abuse that power for our own selfish gain - for some corrupted purpose - he is arguing to prevent that happening - he wanted to have a legislative, executive, and judicial branch The compromise forward to ratify the constitution with addition to adding the bill of rights Most important amendments First amendment - Cases: Schenck v. United States (1919) has to do with speech (Incitement) - a guy named Schenk out on a sidewalk handing out pamphlets and gets arrested for what is on the papers. The papers said how to get out of being drafted into the military, telling people how to do something criminal which is illegal outcome: the court says he was not allowed to do any form of speech that would cause clear and present danger - him telling people to escape drafting would cause danger(threat) to the military Brandenburg v Ohio(1969) having to do with discrimination speech or speech causing harm to others - A leader in the KKK is arrested for discrimination but he argued that he was not telling people to harm others but simply expressing his hatred for people - which the court agreed with him because as vile as his opinion might be he is still allowed to express his opinion - the court, however, changes the standard, whether or not you can be punished for your speech, your speech has to be likely to incite to not be protected and also has to include something criminal to not be protected under the first amendment (the speech has to provoke violence) all the KKK member had to do was state he did not mean it like that - - - - Second amendment - - Fourth amendment: - - - - Fifth amendment: - - - - - 9th Amendment: Implied rights of the people - it states that there are rights that exist to the people that are not stated in the constitution but they are protected. 10th amendment: Reservation of powers clause: these powers belong to the government any power that does not belong to the government belongs to the states and this amendment is why states have power and distributes power between the states and government. 13th ed: Provides the abolition of slavery - abolished any form of slavery in the United States - except when used for punishment of crimes, if former slaves commit crimes then they can become slaves again. 14th amendment: Citizenship, due process, and equal protection Guarantees procedural process rights in the states - it does the same thing as the fifth for due process. It provides the equal protection clause under the law saying all laws must be applied equally to all. It was created to provide protection for the former slaves because they were continuing to be treated differently than white people. You cannot be unequal to those who are not white. Deals with claims of discrimination Discrimination: One way you can is race, religion, sex, disability, national origin - immutability are things that you cannot change and should not be discriminated against - though there are some gray areas for these are things you also should not change The government can discriminate against the educational and wealth of others - The government could discriminate against weight for the military The government is always allowed to discriminate if it is a situation where certain conditions are met When is discrimination allowed? They make these decisions based on standards - levels of scrutiny Rational basis scrutiny: when the government is allowed to discriminate if they have a good reason, rational or logical reasoning, logical explanations to discriminate and if you are engaged in discrimination then the level of discrimination must be connected to the level of the logic/explanation. Intermediate scrutiny: the government is allowed to discriminate when they have substantial reason to discriminate - higher threshold then a logical reason. - It has to be a good reason and if it is a good reason the discrimination has to solve the problem, a substantial reason Strict scrutiny: the government must have a compelling justification higher than substantial justification - you have to have an undeniable justification to discriminate. The level of this scrutiny is narrowly tarro de discrimination - they have to find a way to discriminate in the simplest way Cases: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1. - Lecture 5 Major amendments: 15 amendment gives voting rights to african americans - does not allow congress to not allow people to vote based on race 16 amendment - income tax - gives congress to tax your income 17 amendment - selection process of Senators - changes the process for selecting US senators to give us citizens the right to vote for the representatives 18 amendment - prohibition of alcohol - alcohol band 19 amendment - gives women the right to vote starting in 1920 21 amendment - only amendment that bans another amendment - it reallows alcohol back into the country 22 amendment - term limits - president cannot serve more than two terms - also if the vice president to takes over presidency it does not count as a term unless you have completed two years (half) of the term 23 amendment - gives DC electors three electoral votes in the electoral college 25 amendment - the guarantee of the line of succession - guarantees that if president cannot serve the vice president will serve 26 amendment - the third amendment that gives voting right - voting rights for those who are 18 and older 27 amendment - congress has the power to raise their own salaries they can change it whenever they want - if they do go for a raise it will not get accepted until the next term Federalism - state level power - it is written into the constitution - federal system - distributed in three powers Systems of government: Confederations: state have all the power and give some power to congress Federations: national government have all the power Unitary: all power would be done by congress How power is distributed in federalism: Dual federalism - clear division of power there is no division in power - power to the national government does not belong to the state government Cooperative federalism - where the national government and state government share the power equally Coercive federalism - Nixon administration - devolution - we start to push back against the national government and taking power away from congress and give it back to the states - congress starts going around this by using money - instead of creating rules states have to follow they start bribing states that if you do what we say we will give you money and it is successful - congress cannot create a drinking age so they created a organization and said to the states that if the raise the drinking age they can get billions of dollars if they reach the requirements so states began to agree and slowly congress regains control not by force but bribery Federal grants (five) Block grants - where congress creates a general guideline for states without directly telling them how to get the money - the congress gives a generic offer - can only Cares Act (2020) - money given to states for covid relief - congress said you can do anything with the money related to covid relief - some money went to mask and protective equipment for hospitals and some went to scholarships and financial relief Community mental health services block grant - states can do anything with money provided by congress but can only be used for mental health services Categorical grant - gives congress the most control The RAISE grant (2024) - gives money to states for public transformation (infrastructure) 2 billion dollars are given to transportation Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Unfunded mandate - congress says you need to do this with no money included and sometimes they will take money away if they do not ably No Child Left Behind (2002) - every school must apply some academic testing standards and if they do not ably people can be fired and even lead to the school shutting down Education: all public education was controlled by states until in the 1950's when congress took some control Environment (Clean Air Act) Voting regulations Since the 1980s there has been a rise of grants that have been created to bribe the states - as of today there are over 1300 grants - majority of these are categorical grants Growth Grants - Grant to GDP ratio - how much revenue does the state earn from within the state and congress - how many states rely on money internally and how any states rely on congress - more states are getting money from congress then they are making internally in their own state - it is better to have a balance between receiving money both internally and from congress Article 1 section 8 - positive powers 10th amendment - powers not given to the united states by the united states, national government does not have power over is given to the states - Dual federalism Power given to states: Police power - power to regulate the health safety morals - this is the bulk of state power - what is legal in one state can be illegal in another state Concurrent power is shared power - the constitution guarantees some shared power between congress and state - the states have the ability to regulate commerce as well as congress Interstate commerce - transaction between one state and another - begins in one state and ends in another - cannot be touched, regulated, by congress Intrastate commerce - any sort of transaction within a state - begins and terminates in a state Gonzales v Raich (2005) - tries to highlight intrastate vs. interstate commerce - passes a law in 1999( California compassionate use act) that allows for the admissible use of marijuana and even grown your own weed - it can only be consumed by your own self in california, only for california residents and doctors - All weed is illegal by congress everywhere - they argue that it is intrastate commerce and they followed all the rules given by California but the court disagrees and says that it is intrastate commerce meaning the congress can be involved. - controlled substance act Intrastate is basically impossible and really does not exist anymore US vs Lopez (1995) and "Substantial effect"