US Examples – Long Version 2022/23 PDF

US Examples – Long Version – 2022/23 2011 – SC ruled in favour of Westboro Bap9st Church’s right to protest just outside of a military funeral, sta9ng that as the issues they were making clear through phrases such as ‘God loves 9/11’ were of public concern, they were protected under the 1st amendment – in Snyder V Phelps. This shows the sovereignty of the Cons9tu9on over the sway of public opinion, as obviously it’s an example of a group doing something heavily frowned upon but being cons9tu9onally protected. 2016 – Caetano vs. MassachuseOs, a person was charged with owning an illegal stun gun by the state. The SC ruled it was within the second amendment. This shows the codiﬁed nature of the Cons9tu9on making it easy to interpret for lawmakers even where there could be confusion from an originalist perspec9ve. It could be seen as showing the sovereignty of the Supreme Court because it involves the extension of the deﬁni9on of ‘arms’, contained in the bill of rights, poten9ally interfering with ‘original meaning’. It also is an example of the degrada9on of federalism, or at least the Supreme Court’s power over federalism. 2000 – Apprendi vs. New Jersey, ruled judges can’t extend sentences beyond their statutory maximums. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the New Jersey appeals court, so this could be used as an example of the Supreme Court upholding federalism. 2008 – Senator Obama resigned (from the Senate) to become president. Presidents must resign from the Senate or the House if they want to be president. 1993-1994 – Bill Clinton’s healthcare reform to provide universal health care was rejected as he would not listen to or work with moderate Republicans, and the chance of reform died in 1994 – he campaigned heavily on this promise in 1992. 1995 – Gridlock as Clinton and the Republican Congress could not agree to pass the 1996 federal budget, speciﬁcally over educa9on, the environment and health. Dec 2018 – Jan 2019 – the government shutdown due to disagreements between the House and Trump over funding ‘The Wall’ 1969-2001 – The government was divided (e.g., at any point between these years, there was at least one branch that was not wholly led by the party of the other branches) 2002 – W Bush used his power to recommend legisla9on to Congress to focus on the budget and The War on Terror Clinton vetoed 36 pieces of legisla9on. 2022 – Dobbs V Jackson overturned Roe V Wade by deciding the Cons9tu9on does not. confer the right to abor9on. Roberts declined to join the majority opinion on this, wri9ng the right to an abor9on should ‘extend far enough to ensure a reasonable opportunity to choose, but need not extend any further’ - seeking to uphold Mississippi’s statute of banning abor9on a`er 15 weeks (in the foetal heartbeat bill 2019) and banning abor9ons based on race, sex, or gene9c abnormality of the foetus. The California Values Act 2018 ensures no state local resources assist federal immigra9on enforcement and ‘our schools, our hospitals, and our courthouses are safe spaces for everyone in our community’. 2018 – Chicago sued Trump for withholding police funding over its sanctuary city policies, mainly the lack of enforcement of federal immigra9on laws. Chicago was sided with, ruling that the Trump administra9on did not have the authority to withhold federal public safety funding from Chicago if it limits its coopera9on with US Immigra9on and Customs Enforcement oﬃcials. 2019 – Trump threatened to withhold emergency funds from California, at the 9me of California experiencing severe wildﬁres that destroyed tens of thousands of acres of land – this was deemed cons9tu9onal. In 2018 California requested $72 million in funding from the US Forest Service, and 9 million of that was withheld. This is an example of the president degrading federalism. 2022 – New York State Riﬂe and Pistol Associa9on Inc V Bruen struck down 6-3 the 1911 Sullivan Act that limited the ability to carry a pistol in public by requiring licenses for guns small enough to be concealed. This is an interpreta9on of the Second Amendment that is an example of the Supreme Court impeding upon federalism 2001-2005 – Federal spending rose by 33% The No Child Le` Behind Act 2001 ensured students in failing schools were moved to beOer ones, as a result inner city schools saw an increase in students of 20%. This was passed 38445 91-8 and so is an example of bipar9sanship. Under Bush, the Defence Budget increased by 125% Under Obama, federal assistance to states increased $240 billion, opposed to $20 billion under W Bush When Obama le` oﬃce, around 50% of the adult popula9on (polls found) thought th government was doing too much. 2018 – federal funding was cut in the Environmental Protec9on Agency, the State Department and other departments, and this money was diverted towards military spending and the defence budget, which increased 5.53% from 2017 Alaska allows people to get a learner’s permit to drive at 14, whereas Washington D.C. allows this at 16, showing the diﬀerences in rights between states 2019 – Washington voters approved an amendment adding ‘catastrophic incidents’ to the list of speciﬁed emergencies that would allow the Washington legislature extra powers if present California leads the US in environmental regula9ons, as other states o`en end up adop9ng theirs – e.g., New York, MassachuseOs, and many other states follow California’s lowemission vehicle criteria and their zero-emission vehicle program Trump was dependent upon Congress funding to build The Wall but failed despite the Republican Senate When Trump ﬁrst gave outlines to lockdown during covid, 32 states did by March 2020. But then, in worry of his approval ra9ng within the party that was falling due to a decline in economic growth, he began to force states to undo their lockdowns Trump used funding that would’ve otherwise gone to the Democrat state Colorado on ven9lators By the 24th June 2020, 16 states and Washington D.C. had made face masks compulsory outside March 2021 – Biden signed the Covid-19 Relief Bill, giving $22 billion in rental assistance and $5 billion in homelessness aid Biden re-joined the Paris Climate Accord Trump le`, on his ﬁrst day in oﬃce Biden has so far failed to repeal the 2005 Protec9on of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act which protects the gun industry from liability for crimes done with their weapons 1995 – Clinton passed a ten year assault weapons ban 2010 – Obama passed the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal Act Trump’s aOempt to repeal Obamacare was thwarted by three Republican Senators: John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, becoming the ﬁrst black woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court – she was appointed at a 53-47 vote 2018 – Trump appointed BreO Kavanaugh 2009 - Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor 2000 – Flag Desecra9on Amendment failed to pass in the Senate at 66-34, 1 vote away Execu9ve order 13491 under Obama ensured lawful interroga9ons Execu9ve order 13813 under Trump removed federal subsidiaries underpinning Obamacare A`er Congress failed to raise minimum wage to $7.25 per hour, Obama issued an execu9ve order to increase it to $10.10 per hour for all employees of federal (sub)contractors Trump signed 58 execu9ve orders in his ﬁrst year despite having cri9cised them during his campaign. The Trump administra9on agreed on a zero tolerance policy on immigrants trying to illegally cross the border, which he then reversed through execu9ve order 13841 a`er receiving nega9ve public reac9on Obama issued execu9ve order 13535 to ensure abor9on would not be funded with federal money, conceded by the House Obama vetoed the 9/11 Vic9ms Bill, which Congress overrode, in 2016 that allowed families of 9/11 vic9ms to sue Saudi Arabia 2016 – four diﬀerent congressional commiOees inves9gated alleged Russian interference in the elec9on 2008 – Dennis Kucinich sponsored charges against W Bush and Cheney regarding the Iraq War and how they misled the public 2012 – Senate voted to reject the UN Conven9on on the Rights of Persons with Disabili9es Obama claimed the Senate withheld vo9ng for an appointment for a judge in 2016 un9l a new president had been announced 2019-21 – 1% of bills enacted 2017-19 – 3% of bills enacted The 2002 Bipar9san Campaign Reform Act and the 2015 bill to re-authorise America’s Export-Import Bank were discharged from the Rules CommiOee to the House ﬂoor for debate 5/2020 – Congress removed vo9ng on a bill for the ﬁrst 9me 2010 – Bernie Sanders ﬁlibustered from 10:25am to just before 7pm on a tax deal Obama was aOemp9ng to nego9ate with the Republicans 95-97 – 37 conference reports were adopted, while in 2015-17 only 7 conference reports were adopted A Conference CommiOee took place over the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017, Republicans controlling Congress reconciled diﬀerences between the House and Senate versions of the bill Clinton pocket vetoed the Consumer Bankruptcy Overhaul Bill in December 2000 In the 115th Congress, 56% of bills were degraded under closed vote 1 in 4 bills don’t get beyond the commiOee stage 2018 - $2.8 million allocated towards arts programs in Washington DC (pork barrel poli9cs) 2014 - $1 trillion spending bill passed that blocked the sage-grouse from being placed on the endangered species list (the Senate can oﬀer amendments on any topic) 2016 – the SC refused to consider a lawsuit against (on behalf of Nebraska and Oklahoma) Colorado’s regulated sale of recrea9onal marijuana (Supremacy clause – congressional law is superior to state law) The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 meant copyrighted songs were deﬁned as capital assets and subject to a lower tax rate, this was a request made by House member Diane Black whose district represented parts of Nashville Eric Cantor lost a Republican primary in 2014 a`er previously having been House majority leader, when his opposi9on was a Tea Party member, because he did not listen to cons9tuents well [the Tea Party movement was a conserva9ve populist movement that emerged in 2009, opposing taxa9on, government interven9on, and immigra9on, it is generally believed to have morphed into Trumpism as it is no longer relevant] Joe Crowley was cri9cised by his cons9tuents in the 144th District in New York for spending very liOle 9me there, that seat was won by AOC in 2018 and 2022 MiO Romney was the lone member of his party to vote to convict Trump and remove him from oﬃce 115th Congress – 85 women in the House, 23 women in the Senate. 46 African Americans in the House, 3 African Americans in the Senate. 39 Hispanic people in the House, 5 Hispanic people in the Senate. Cooper V Harris 2017 ruled 5-3 that the North Carolina General Assembly used race too heavily in re-drawing two Congressional districts Obama signed the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2015 in face of a protes9ng Senate (0 of 49 Republican senators supported it) 2023 – A package of rules governing the opera9ons of Congress passed, it added a 72 hour rule which requires bill text to be released 72 hours before a bill hits the ﬂoor 2016 – Chris Murphy’s 15 hour ﬁlibuster led to a vote on the expansion of federal background checks on gun sales, both proposals failed because of par9san vo9ng, including Mark Kirk being the only Republican to vote in favour of both gun control measures 2017 – Jeﬀ Merkley and other Democrats ﬁlibustered Trump’s nomina9on of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, in response to this Mitch McConnell used the ‘nuclear op9on’ by requiring only a simple majority for SC nominees to be conﬁrmed 2015 – Obama’s appointment of LoreOa Lynch as aOorney general took 167 days from her appointment to her conﬁrma9on due to par9san deadlock by Republican Congress. She was eventually conﬁrmed by 56-43 Senate vote Trump’s American Healthcare Act of 2017 failed due to a lack of support from Republican groups, but was passed 217-213 eventually without Democrat support. However, it was defeated in the Senate at 49-51. Last minute talks failed to gain the support of Republican senators John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins 3 days a`er 9/11, Congress voted for the Authoriza9on for Use of Military Force against ‘those responsible for the [9/11] aOacks’ and then passed the USA PATRIOT Act by 357-66 votes in the House and 98-1 votes in the Senate 2008 – rapid ac9on to the ﬁnancial crisis was taken with the Emergency Economic Stabiliza9on Act which authorised the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program The ‘Hastert Rule’ which means a Republican speaker of the House should not allow a bill to be brought to ﬂoor vote unless a majority of Republicans support it can be blamed for the government shutdown in 2013 and for the failure to pass meaningful immigra9on reform 2023 – Minnesota Democrat Representa9ve Ilhan Omar was ousted 218-211 from the Foreign Aﬀairs CommiOee yesterday by House Republicans for cri9cising Israel The Federal Judiciary Act 1789 allowed for the crea9on of the Supreme Court, consis9ng of one chief jus9ce and ﬁve associate jus9ces 2012 – 76 cases were argued in the Supreme Court and 7,647 cases were disposed of 2016 – 68 cases were argued in the Supreme Court and 6,258 cases were disposed of 2021-2022 – 68 were argued in the Supreme Court The Supreme Court only hears around 1% of cases it receives Ketanji Brown Jackson was approved by the Senate at 53-47, 3 Republicans voted to approve her Marburg V Madison 1803 – judges determine whether federal laws are uncons9tu9onal Fletcher V Peck 1810 – ﬁrst 9me SC ruled against a state law, it extended its powers to the states Miranda V Arizona 1966 – police are cons9tu9onally required to inform people in custody of their rights to remain silent and to aOorney Regents of the University of California V Bakke 1978 – universi9es may only use race as part of an admissions process if ﬁxed quotas are not used The electoral college elected Donald Trump in 2016 and W Bush in 2000 From 1998 to 2018 there were 134 aOempts to pass a balanced budget amendment Boumediene V Bush 2008 ruled 5-4 that W Bush’s administra9on did not have legal authority to try suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay in military tribunals Vice President Mike Pence cast 13 9e breaking votes in his 4 year term in oﬃce President Clinton was forced to withdraw troops from Somalia in 1994 by the War Powers Act of 1973 In 2020 the Senate passed a resolu9on to limit Trump’s power to order military ac9on against Iran without ﬁrst seeking Congress’s permission In 1999 the Senate rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty which was an agreement between countries to ban nuclear weapon test bans. It was rejected 51-48 In 2017 Andrew Puzder as secretary of labor withdrew following concerns from Republican senators over his personal background and business record – showing how the threat of a Senate rejec9on is powerful The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act Oversight Commission of 2020 oversaw the eﬀec9veness of the government’s implementa9on of the CARES Act In 2014 in Na9onal Labor Rela9ons Board V Noel Canning, the Court ruled that President Obama had acted uncons9tu9onally in making appointments to the Na9onal Labor Rela9ons Board without the Senate’s approval In 2020, Trump vetoed the Iran War Powers regula9on which would have limited his ability to wage war against Iran Obama signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Ac9on execu9ve agreement with Iran because he knew that Congress would not ra9fy any nuclear deal he nego9ated with them United States V Windsor 2013 declared the Defence of Marriage Act 1996 uncons9tu9onal The Cole Memorandum in 2013 during the Obama presidency stated the Jus9ce Department would not enforce federal restric9ons on marijuana when states had legalised it except in certain criminal circumstances, like ﬁrearms being involved In 2018 the Cole Memo was rescinded by the Trump administra9on but in prac9ce the Jus9ce Department under Trump did liOle to change Obama’s policy In 2017 Trump issued an execu9ve order that proposed sanctuary ci9es would be at risk of losing federal grants In 2018 the Department of Jus9ce sued the state of California over its sanctuary city laws and the rulings went against the Department, aﬃrming the autonomy of the state In Na9onal Federa9on of Independent Business V Sebelius 2012 the Supreme Court struck down the Medicaid provision which aOempted to force states to cover some people’s health insurance costs or risk losing their federal funding for Medicaid. Even though this meant states could not be compelled to expand Medicaid, all but 14 states expanded it and Medicaid enrolment increased by 34% between 2013 and 2019 In United States V Texas 2016 the Supreme Court struck down Obama’s use of an execu9ve order to implement his immigra9on reform programme on the basis it was uncons9tu9onal due to the cost to the states A`er Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the government gave $120 billion worth of aid A`er the stock market crash of 2008, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 which provided $787 billion of federal economic s9mulus In 2003, W Bush signed the Medicare Prescrip9on Drug Modernisa9on Act (220-215 54-44), a major expansion of Medicare which included a new prescrip9on drug beneﬁt. It was es9mated to cost $400 billion in its ﬁrst ten years and was wriOen to beneﬁt American seniors Obama’s 2009 Race to the Top program invested $4 billion into promo9ng school improvement on a state and local level. It allowed states to win hundreds of millions of dollars if they evaluated teachers by the test scores of their students, closed schools with low test scores, increased the number of privately managed charter schools, and adopted the Common Core State Standards. It failed to li` the test scores of all students Obergefell V Hodges 2015 ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same sex couples by the Fi`h and the Fourteenth Amendments The US Patriot Act of 2001 gave the government new powers to detain people and hold informa9on on them In July 2019, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administra9on to con9nue building the border wall while li9ga9on con9nued against him In Carpenter V United States 2018, the Supreme Court judged that acquiring cell phone loca9on data amounts to a Fourth Amendment search and would require a warrant In Shelby County V Holder 2013, the Supreme Court struck down sec9on 4(b) of the Vo9ng Rights Act 1965 which held a formula containing outdated data, making it unresponsive to current needs and so a burden on federalism and equal sovereignty of the states. This has made it easier for state oﬃcials to make it harder for ethnic minority voters to vote In 2007, Congress overrode Bush’s veto of the Water Resources Development Bill, the vote in the house being 381-40 In 2010, the Senate voted 71-26 to ra9fy the Strategic Arms Reduc9on Treaty nego9ated by Obama with Dmitry Medvedev When Ruth Bader Ginsberg died in 2020, Trump’s nominee Amy Coney BarreO was conﬁrmed 52-48 in the Senate A`er dismissing Rex Tillerson in 2018, Trump had to gain the approval of the Senate to appoint Mike Pompeo to replace him. The senate voted 57-42 to conﬁrm Pompeo In 2010, Judge Thomas Porteous was found guilty of misconduct, corrup9on, commirng perjury, and fraud. He was removed from oﬃce by the Senate and disqualiﬁed at 94-2 In 2023, a federal judge in Oklahoma (appointed by Donald Trump) concluded that a federal law prohibi9ng marijuana users from possessing ﬁrearms is uncons9tu9onal February 2023, Mississippi House Republicans passed a bill to add a separate unelected court to the outskirts of Jackson that will also increase police presence in majority white neighbourhoods. The issue with this is that Jackson has a black popula9on of 82.6%, while the majority of its outskirts (suburbs) are white, so this court will create apartheid 2020 elec9on funds September: Joe Biden raised $281 million, Trump raised $81 million Biden fundraised $1 billion from April 2017 to November 2020, while Trump raised $780 million from July 2019 to November 2020 February 2023: The US Agency for Interna9onal Development pledged $85 million in lifesaving relief for earthquake vic9ms in Turkey and Syria February 2023: The Republican Missouri state House of Representa9ves voted 104-39 against a proposal to ban children from carrying guns without adult supervision in public 2019, Trump ins9gated a raid to aOack the leader of IS (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) but failed to inform the ‘gang of 8’ lawmakers about his raid due to concerns Adam Schiﬀ would leak the informa9on – as chairman of the House Ethics CommiOee. It is customary for presidents to inform a select group of lawmakers about these sorts of secret missions as Obama did with Osama Bin Laden The gang of 8 lawmakers include the Speaker and minority leader of the House, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the Chairs of the House and Senate CommiOees on Intelligence and the ranking members of those two commiOees also. In the 118th Congress this is Kevin McCarthy, Hakeem Jeﬀries, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnel, Michael Turner (Rep), Jim Himes (Dem), Mark Warner (Dem), and Marco Rubio (Rep) In February 2023, Kevin McCarthy asked for a brieﬁng for the Gang of Eight on the Chinese surveillance balloon. A senior defence oﬃcial with the US government said they were conﬁdent the balloon originated from China In 2019, Trump withdrew all US troops from the north of Syria to avoid a conﬂict between Turkey and formerly US backed Kurdish ﬁghters In January 2020 Trump commiOed an air strike on Qasem Soleimani (an Iranian major general) while he was on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi that killed him In 2017 Trump made a televised address to troops at Fort Myer in Virginia saying that he was going to expand the presence of US troops in Afghanistan Trump authorised strikes in Syria in 2017 (he launched 59 tomahawk missiles for alleged aggression from president Assad) and 2018 (alongside the UK and France against mul9ple government sites in Syria) In 2017, Trump made an execu9ve order to permit construc9on of the Keystone oil pipeline (that would too have gone through indigenous lands, which is especially signiﬁcant considering he didn’t appoint anyone to the White House Council on Na9ve American Aﬀairs) which was repealed in 2021 a`er Biden signed an execu9ve order to revoke the permit that was granted to TC Energy Corpora9on for the construc9on of the pipeline. In 2021, TC Energy abandoned plans for the Keystone Pipeline In 2020, Trump threatened to prorogue Congress while they were holding proforma sessions in order to make recess appointments for vacant posi9ons like the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Director of Na9onal Intelligence In 2020, Trump announced his plan to withdraw 12,000 troops from Germany to be redeployed elsewhere in Europe. In 2021, Biden froze this plan In 2020, Trump signed an execu9ve order ‘Addressing the Threat From Securi9es Investments that Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies’ that prohibited all US investors from purchasing or inves9ng in securi9es of companies iden9ﬁed by the US government as ‘Communist Chinese military companies’. This was overridden by Biden’s ‘Addressing the Threat from Securi9es Investments that Finance Certain Companies of the People’s Republic of China’ in 2021 that prohibited all US investors from purchasing or inves9ng in publicly traded securi9es of companies that have operated in the defence and material sector or the surveillance technology sector of the economy of the PRC In 2020, Trump signed an execu9ve order ‘The President’s Execu9ve Order on Hong Kong Normaliza9on’ that suspends or eliminates diﬀerent and preferen9al treatment for Hong Kong to the extent permiOed by law and in the interest of na9onal security, foreign policy, and economic interest of the United States In 2017, Trump signed an execu9ve order ‘Requiring the Na9on’s pipes to be built with only American steel’, ordering the commerce secretary to dra` a policy requiring the na9on’s pipelines to be constructed or reinforced with American made steel In 2017, Trump signed an execu9ve order ‘Protec9ng the Na9on from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States’ which banned people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days – Syrian refugees were banned indeﬁnitely. 2 months later, he signed another execu9ve order to rescind the original travel ban, travel banning people from the same six majority-Muslim countries (minus Iraq) for 90 days. 6 months a`er this one, he signed another execu9ve order which banned certain na9onals of Venezuela, North Korea, and six majority-Muslim countries – the same as above but Chad instead of Sudan In 2017, Trump signed the H.R. 601 into law which provided $15.25 billion in relief to Hurricane Harvey survivors In 2012, Obama made several speeches following the Sandy Hook Massacre (in which 27 people were murdered) and used it as a springboard to push gun-control legisla9on, involving a gun violence task force headed by vice president Biden In 2022, Biden made a speech following the Uvalde shoo9ng in which 21 people were murdered, pushing gun control issues pertaining to standing up to the gun lobby, the responsibility of gun manufacturers and assault weapons Rasul V Bush 2004 decided that foreign na9onals held in the Guantanamo Bay deten9on camp could pe99on federal courts for writs of habeas corpus (claim to unlawful imprisonment) to review the legality of their deten9on. More than 200 of these have been wriOen, so far over 50 ‘enemy combatant’ detainees have been repatriated from Guantanamo with pending Habeas Corpus pe99ons In 2016, Trump’s campaign included the repeal of the AHA, immigra9on and infrastructure expenditure. This mandate made it easier for Congress to debate his ideas in 2017 In 2017, District Judge Robart temporarily halted Trump’s immigra9on ban Obama issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commuta9ons during his presidency George W Bush pardoned 189 In his ﬁrst year, Trump pardoned two people, including Joe Arpaio, a former sheriﬀ who violated the cons9tu9onal rights of Hispanic ci9zens In 2020, Trump vetoed the Iran War Powers Resolu9on, and this veto was sustained 49-44 in the Senate. The Iran War Powers Resolu9on was to direct the removal of US Armed Forces from hos9li9es against the Islamic Republic of Iran that had not been authorised by Congress The 2002 McCain-Feingold Act regulates the ﬁnancing of poli9cal campaigns, reducing so` money (money donated to a poli9cal party that is not subject to federal limits). However, 527 groups are not regulated under state or federal campaign ﬁnance laws because they do not expressly advocate for the elec9on or defeat of a candidate or party In 2020, PAC contribu9ons to Senate and House candidates totalled $56.9 million and $245.6 million respec9vely In the 2004 Senate elec9ons, where 31 state incumbents had raised over $170 million, whilst 59 challengers had only managed to raise $31 million In 2020, Michael Bloomberg invested $688 million into his campaign before dropping out – despite spending more than Biden and Trump In 2020, Trump spent $270 million more than Biden 94% of 2016 presiden9al campaign events were held in just 12 swing states like Florida, with 33 states receiving no campaign aOen9on such as Montana 40 states have voted for the same par9es since 2000 The Democrats gained Arizona in 2020, which was considered a Republican stronghold apart from vo9ng Democrat twice before, in 1996 and 1952 In California, 4 million Hillary Clinton voters could have declined to vote in 2016 and Clinton s9ll would’ve won California’s 55 electoral votes In 2011, the Congressional districts of Illinois were redrawn, with the 4th Congressional district then having a Hispanic majority. In 2016, 211,000 of the 374,000 eligible voters were Hispanic, and the Democrat Luis Gu9errez was elected Maryland has been Democra9c since 1988 and North Carolina has been majorly republican since 1968 February 2023, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin killed a Democra9c-led (but supported by half of Virginia Republicans in the chamber) bill to stop law enforcement from obtaining menstrual histories of people in the state – in the Virginian senate – by a procedural move in a subcommiOee of the Republican House February 2023, the Biden administra9on withdrew the nomina9on of a law professor for his opinions on Israel being an apartheid state and the inﬂuence of AIPAC lobbying in US poli9cs A bill passed the Senate in September 2022 amending the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to deﬁne “descrip9on of oﬀense” as necessarily including the name and address of each foreign government/poli9cal party that par9cipates in the direc9on and planning of any convicted lobbying ac9vi9es in the US involving bribery, extor9on, embezzlement, etc. Essen9ally, it will bring foreign inﬂuences in illicit lobbying under greater scru9ny by ensuring that when a lobbyist is being observed any of their past rela9ons to foreign countries will be visible The Lobbying Disclosure Act 1995 ensures that a lobbyist must register with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representa9ves no later than 45 days a`er their ﬁrst lobbying contact In 2016, Taiwanese oﬃcials hired senator to lobbyist Bob Dole to set up a phone call between president Donald Trump and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen Trump V Hawaii 2018 upheld the validity of Trump’s travel ban as within his powers Gonzales V Carhart 2007 upheld the Par9al-Birth Abor9on Ban Act 2003 The Par9al-Birth Abor9on Act 2003 prohibited a form of abor9on that is used in the second trimester from 15 to 26 weeks. It failed to consider viability, the point of foetal development at which the foetus has the possibility to survive outside the womb. The survival rate is 2035% for foetuses born at 23 weeks of gesta9on, for example The Supreme Court rejected hearing Planned Parenthood of Arkansas V Jegley 2018 which had the purpose of not allowing restric9ons to be put into place on how abor9on pills are administered. Arkansas made it more diﬃcult to get the abor9on pill Following a 5-4 decision against LedbeOer in the Supreme Court case LedbeOer V. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., calling cons9tu9onal sex-based pay discrimina9on against LedbeOer, Obama signed into law the Lilly LedbeOer Fair Pay Act 2009 which overrode the decision by the Court, making it easier for people to ﬁle pay discrimina9on suits South Dakota V Wayfair, Inc 2018 decided 5-4 that states may charge tax on purchases made from out of state sellers even if the seller does not have a physical presence in the taxing state – overturning Quill Corp. V. North Dakota 1992 which banned states from compelling retailers to collect sales in connec9on with mail order or internet sales made to their residents unless those retailers have a physical presence in the taxing state Janus V AFSCME 2018 held that public sector unions cannot require non-member employees to pay agency fees covering the costs of non-poli9cal union ac9vi9es – overruling Abood V Detroit Board of Educa9on 1977 that had previously allowed these fees Bostock V Clayton County 2020 held that 9tle VII (prohibi9ng discrimina9on by covered employers) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimina9on because they are gay or transgender Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez was able to beat the longstanding Joe Crowley (in the 14th Congressional district of New York) at 57% of the vote by poin9ng towards him not living inside of New York 20 Representa9ve and 5 Senator incumbents were defeated in the 2020 elec9on In 2020, Obama signed a book deal for $65 million In 1994, (at the 9me) former president Jimmy Carter helped nego9ate an agreement to avert a US invasion of Hai9 Only 10 presidents have ever not been re-elected for a second 4 year term In late 2022, Trump’s approval ra9ng was around 33% George H W Bush was not re-elected in 1993 due to his mishandling of the economy From Ci9zens United V FEC 2010 that decided the ﬁrst amendment protects people’s poli9cal expenditure from interven9on by the government, arose Super-PACs. These SuperPACs are commiOees that can spend a non-limited amount of money on poli9cal campaigns providing they do not directly give the money to campaigns, but instead to adver9sements, etc. $670 million was spent on the outside of the 2010 midterm elec9on $1 billion was spent on the outside of the 2014 midterm elec9on In the 2022 midterm elec9ons, Super-PACs spent $433,679,000 against the Republican party and $310,090,000 for the Republican party, which resulted in the Republicans losing only 1 seat in the Senate, and gaining 9 seats in the House for a majority of 222 The top spenders won 88% of 2020 House races and 71% of Senate races Joe Biden spent around $1 billion of candidate commiOee money and $600 million of outside money in his presiden9al campaign Trump spent around $774 million of candidate commiOee money and $314 million of outside money in his 2020 presiden9al campaign George W Bush’s ﬁnal disapproval ra9ng, in 2009, was at 61% when Obama came into power Whole Woman’s Health V Hellerstedt 2016 reaﬃrmed a woman’s right to legal abor9on. Roberts ruled in the majority 5-3 that Texas could not place restric9ons on abor9on services that create an undue burden on women. Roberts did not support the decision but voted stare decisis on it anyway Obama gained 365 electoral votes in the 2009 presiden9al elec9on In the Pennsylvania Senate Race of 2022, the Democrat John FeOerman beat out the Republican Mehmet Oz. FeOerman’s inside spending was $74,899,000 whereas Oz’s inside spending was $49,214,868 In the 2022 Pennsylvania District 04 House race the Democrat winner spent $1,800,000 whereas the Republican loser spent $236,000 12 states, including Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas, received 96% of the 2020 general elec9on campaign events by the major party presiden9al and vice-presiden9al candidates 7 out of 8 dollars for TV ads up to mid-October of 2020 were spent in the same 6 states 35 states have been vo9ng for the same par9es since 2000 In 2021, Biden faced opposi9on from Democrat members of Congress in rela9on to his $1 trillion infrastructure bill. West Virginia senator Joe Manchin said he could not support it as he could not support ‘that much new’ federal spending, while the Democrat senator Bernie Sanders called Manchin’s desire for it to be scaled back ‘not acceptable’ The Department of Agriculture gave $742,907 to the University of Montana for a study on sheep grazing to control weeds which is cri9cised for being wasteful and trivial In 2020, the Democrats held caucuses in Iowa, Nevada, North Dakota and Wyoming In 2016, the Republicans held caucuses in 10 states and the Democrats in 14 In 2020, there was a Super Tuesday when on the ﬁrst Tuesday in March 14 states arranged their primaries together In Bush V Gore 2000, the SC halted the state-wide recount of all votes in Florida by 5-4 on the basis the usage of diﬀerent standards of coun9ng in diﬀerent coun9es violated the Equal Protec9on Clause of the Cons9tu9on DC V Heller 2008 explicitly extended the provisions of the Second Amendment to include the individual’s right to bear arms for reasons unconnected with service in a mili9a Bucklew V Precythe 2019 followed recent precedents and ruled that the prisoner should be executed. Neil Gorsuch argued that although the Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and unusual methods of capital punishment, it does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death Hamdan V Rumsfeld 2006 held that military commissions set up by the Bush administra9on to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated both the Uniform Code of Military Jus9ce and the Geneva Conven9ons ra9ﬁed by the US McCutcheon V FEC 2014 held that sec9on 441 of the Federal Campaign Act of 1971 (imposing a limit on contribu9ons an individual can make over a two year period to all na9onal party and federal candidate commiOees) is uncons9tu9onal, following the First Amendment’s freedom of speech Burwell V Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. 2014 allows privately held for-proﬁt corpora9ons to be exempt from a regula9on that its owners religiously object to if there is a less restric9ve means of furthering the law’s interest, following the ﬁrst amendment’s freedom of religion Town of Greece V Galloway 2014 decided the Town of Greece, New York may permit volunteer chaplains to open each legisla9ve session with a prayer, following the ﬁrst amendment’s freedom of religion Zelman V Simmons-Harris 2002 upheld an Ohio program that used school vouchers, with the Court deciding that the program did not violate the Establishment Clause (Congress shall make no law respec9ng an establishment of religion) of the First Amendment, even if the vouchers could be used for private religious schools McConnell V Federal Elec9on Commission 2003 upheld the cons9tu9onality of the BCRA (Bipar9san Campaigns Reform Act 2002), following the ﬁrst amendment’s freedom of speech McDonald V City of Chicago 2010 found the right of an individual to keep and bear arms is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and so is enforceable against the states, following the First Amendment’s freedom of speech Salinas V Texas 2013 decided that the Fi`h Amendment’s Self-Incrimina9on Clause does not allow a defendant to refuse to answer ques9ons asked by law enforcement before they have been arrested or read their rights. Any witness who desires protec9on against selfincrimina9on must explicitly claim that protec9on, following the Fi`h Amendment’s right for one to not being forced to tes9fy against oneself Atkins V Virginia 2002 ruled that execu9ng people with intellectual disabili9es violates the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments, but states can deﬁne intellectual disability. At the 9me of this ruling, 13 of 38 death penalty states exempted intellectually disabled oﬀenders from the death penalty Roper V Simmons 2005 held that it is uncons9tu9onal to impose capital punishment for crimes commiOed while under the age of 18, overruling Stanford V Kentucky 1989 which upheld execu9on of oﬀenders at or above age 16, interpre9ng the Eighth Amendment Baze V Rees 2008 upheld the cons9tu9onality of the usage of a par9cular kind of lethal injec9on that involves a cocktail of three drugs, however it also stated that the ﬁrst drug in a mul9-drug cocktail must render the inmate unconscious, following the Eighth Amendment Glossip V Gross 2015 held that lethal injec9ons using midazolam to kill prisoners convicted of capital crimes do not cons9tute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment Hall V Florida 2014 held that it is uncons9tu9onal to decide whether someone is eligible for the death penalty based on their IQ, following the Eighth Amendment Gratz V Bollinger 2003 ruled that the University of Michigan’s aﬃrma9ve ac9on-based admissions programme for its undergraduate students was uncons9tu9onal because it was too mechanis9c. But, in GruOer V Bollinger 2003, the Court ruled that the University Law School’s admissions programme was cons9tu9onal because it used a more individualised approach in considering the racial proﬁle of its applicants In 2007, both Parents Involved in Community Schools Inc V SeaOle School District and Meredith V Jeﬀerson County (Kentucky) Board of Educa9on ruled it uncons9tu9onal to assign students to public schools solely for the purpose of achieving racial balance Parents Involved in Community Schools Inc V. SeaOle School District 2007 found it uncons9tu9onal for a school district to use race as a factor in assigning students to school in order to bring its racial composi9on in line with the composi9on of the district as a whole, unless remedying a prior history of segrega9on Meredith V Jeﬀerson County Board of Educa9on 2007 found Jeﬀerson County’s enrolment plan (to maintain substan9al racial integra9on, using race as a factor to assign students) uncons9tu9onal under the EPC of the Fourteenth Amendment 5-4 The Texas Heartbeat Act 2021 was the ﬁrst 6 week abor9on ban to come into eﬀect in the US. A ci9zen who successfully sued a woman who got a post 6-week abor9on got $10,000. On the day the act came into force Roberts bipar9san voted with Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan but it was beaten 5-4 In 2018 Roberts and Kavanaugh joined four liberal jus9ces in declining to hear a case brought by Louisiana and Kansas to deny Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood In February 2019, Roberts was part of the majority in a 5-4 decision rejec9ng a Muslim inmate’s request to delay execu9on in order to have an imam (a worship leader of a mosque) present with him during the execu9on In February 2019, Roberts sided with Kavanaugh and four liberal jus9ces in a 6-3 decision to block the execu9on of a man with an intellectual disability Roberts authored the 2007 free speech case Morse V Frederick ruling a student in a publicschool sponsored ac9vity does not have the right to advocate drug use on the basis that the right to free speech does not invariably prevent the exercise of school discipline US V Stevens 2010, SC struck down 8(including Roberts)-1 a statute criminalising the produc9on, sale or possession of depic9ons of animal cruelty as it was an uncons9tu9onal breaking of the First Amendment right to free speech In 2010 Roberts sold his shares in Pﬁzer because he was due to hear two pending cases involving them Bipar9san Safer Communi9es Act 2022 implemented changes to the mental health system, school safety programs and gun safety laws – including background checks for gun purchasers under 21, clariﬁca9on of ﬁrearms license requirements, further criminalisa9on of arms traﬃcking and par9al closure of a loophole allowing access to guns by people charged with physical abuse. It passed through the Senate with unanimous consent and passed through the House at 230-190. The bill was introduced by Republican Senator Marco Rubio for Florida Ukraine Democracy Defence Lend-Lease Act 2022 facilitates the supply of materiel to the Ukrainian government. It passed unanimously in the Senate and 417-10 in the House EmmeO Till An9lynching Act 2022 makes lynching a federal hate crime and amends the MaOhew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Preven9on Act to deﬁne lynching as any conspired bias-mo9vated oﬀense which results in death or serious bodily injury. It passed the House 422-3 and passed the Senate with unanimous consent Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 2021 authorised $1.2 trillion in funds for federal aid highways, highway safety programs, transit programs, and other projects House Resolu9on 11 of the 118th Congress established a select commiOee on the Strategic Compe99on Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, authorising it to inves9gate and submit policy recommenda9ons concerning the status of the economic, technological, and security progress of the Chinese Communist Party and its compe99on with the United States Uyghur Forced Labor Preven9on Act 2021, unanimously passed the Senate and passed the House by 428-1, with Massie in the no. This act was to ensure that goods made with forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China do not enter the United States market Respect for Marriage Act 2022, passed 61-36 in the Senate and 258-169 in the House a`er failing to pass in the 111-114th Congresses. This repeals the Defense of Marriage Act which deﬁned marriage as a union between a man and a woman and requires the federal government and all states to recognise the validity of same sex and interracial civil marriages American Rescue Plan Act 2021, passed 50-49 in the Senate and 220-211 in the House, both in the Senate and in the House no Republicans voted yea on this and in the House 2 Democrats voted nay on it. It provided $1.9 trillion to speed up recovery from the economic and health eﬀects of covid and the recession Inﬂa9on Reduc9on Act 2022, passed 220-207 in the House and 51-50 in the Senate. It aimed to curb inﬂa9on by reducing the deﬁcit, lowering prescrip9on drug prices, and inves9ng into domes9c energy produc9on while promo9ng clean energy In July 2022, Biden authorised a drone strike to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of alQaeda In April 2021, the House voted 230-199 to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House commiOees on Educa9on and Labor and the Budget. This was done as punishment for her long list of extreme views and conspiracy theories Execu9ve order ‘Blocking Property with Respect to Certain Russian Energy Export Pipelines’ of 2021. Execu9ve order ‘Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibi9ng Certain Transac9ons With Respect to Con9nued Russian Eﬀorts to Undermine the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine’ of 2022. Execu9ve order ‘Prohibi9ng New Investment in and Certain Services to the Russian Federa9on in Response to Con9nued Russian Federa9on Aggression’ of 2022 prohibited new investment in the Russian Federa9on by a United States person The ﬁrst invisible primary Democrat debate in June 2019 had 20 Democrat candidates from all fac9ons of the party In the 2011 invisible primary debate, Governor Rick Perry of Texas had a loss of memory when he could not recall the three execu9ve departments he would close if he were president, and he would later poll less than 1% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary. The 2020 Democrat primary race had close to 30 candidates bidding for nomina9on at various stages in 2019 In 2020 the Iowa caucus saw a turnout of 9.1% while the highest turnout in Montana was only 45.7% Colorado ditched caucuses for 2020 In 27 out of 40 elec9ons held between 1864 and 2020, the winner gained more than half of the popular vote In 2020, California had 55 Electoral college votes represen9ng over 39.5 million people, while Wyoming had 3 votes represen9ng just over half a million people, so California received one EC vote for every 718,000 people and Wyoming received one EC vote for every 192,000 people – small states are over-represented in the Electoral College In 1996 Bill Clinton won 49% of the popular vote yet just over 70% of the Electoral College votes In the eight elec9ons between 1992 and 2020, the Electoral College majorly distorted the result on ﬁve occasions In 2000 and 2016 the candidate who won the popular vote lost the Electoral College vote. In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 48.2% to 46.1%, she had 3 million more votes than Trump but fell over 70 EC votes behind him In 2000, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader won over 3 million votes but won not one Electoral College vote Seven of the 13 presiden9al elec9ons since 1968 have had rogue Electors In 2016 mul9ple rogue there were mul9ple rogue Electoral College votes, and three Clinton Electors in Colorado were dismissed and replaced when they refused to vote for the designated candidate. Five Clinton Electors and two Trump Electors did not vote for their designated candidates Chiafalo V Washington 2020 unanimously decided that states are en9tled to tell their Electors that they have ‘no ground for reversing the votes of millions of ci9zens’. This upheld Washington State’s power to ﬁne three Electors who cast ballots in the Electoral College in favour of Colin Power rather than Hillary Clinton, it also reversed a tenth circuit court that ruled that Colorado had no power to control what Electors do In 2016, Trump was able to bypass tradi9onal campaign adver9sing through his extensive use of TwiOer. Clinton spent around $330 million more than trump in the 2016 presiden9al race G.G. V Gloucester County School Board 2020 (Fourth Circuit Court) – ruled in favour of a transgender boy’s right not to be forced to use a girls’ restroom, the Supreme Court refused to hear this case allowing the decision to stand Ring V Arizona 2002 – applied the rule of Apprendi V New Jersey to capital sentencing schemes, holding that the Sixth Amendment requires a jury to ﬁnd the aggrava9ng factors necessary for imposing the death penalty. This par9ally overrode Walton V Arizona 1990, that upheld judicial sentencing and the aggrava9ng factor “especially heinous, cruel, or depraved” as not uncons9tu9onally vague – this second holding was not overturned The Twenty-Fourth Amendment of 1964 ensures that vo9ng rights not be denied for nonpayment of poll tax The Vo9ng Rights Act 1965 ended literacy and other tests as requirements for voter registra9on Brown V Board of Educa9on of Topeka 1954 – declared segregated schools to be uncons9tu9onal President Kennedy created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1961 In 1955-1956 there was a civil rights protest in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama In 1961 civil rights ac9vists named Freedom Riders rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern US to challenge the non-enforcement of SC decisions Morgan V Virginia 1946 and Boynton V Virginia 1960 which ruled that segregated public buses were uncons9tu9onal Fisher V Texas 2016 held 4-3 that the Fi`h Circuit appellate court correctly found the University of Texas at Aus9n’s admissions policy survived strict scru9ny, in accordance with Fisher V Texas 2013, which ruled that strict scru9ny should be applied to determine the cons9tu9onality of the university’s race-conscious admissions program Between 1960 and 1995 the percentage of black people aged 25-29 who graduated from university rose from 5% to 15% The For the People Act 2021 (220-210 in the House) would update vo9ng procedures and require states to turn over the task of redrawing congressional districts to independent commissions, poten9ally elimina9ng gerrymandering In 1980 50% of eligible black voters went to the polls, compared to 61% of white voters. In 2012, 66.6% of eligible black voters cast their ballot, compared to 64% of eligible white voters and 48% of Hispanic voters In the run-up to the 2016 elec9ons, 9 states including Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, introduced a photo ID requirement for all voters – dispropor9onately aﬀec9ng black voters In 2016, the Brennan Center for Jus9ce es9mated that 6 million Americans lost their right to vote because of previous criminal convic9ons In 2020, 36.2% of black voters in Wyoming were disenfranchised, compared to 2.6% for all adult ci9zens in the state Husted V Randolph Ins9tute 2018 permiOed Ohio to have a list-maintenance process that removes people from the state’s on the basis of inac9vity In 2016, black turnout was 59.6% while white turnout was 65.3% In 2016, of the 22 major-party presiden9al candidates, only one – Ben Carson – was black and two others – Bobby Kindal and Marco Rubio – were from minority ethnic groups Lamone V Benisek 2019 and Rucho V Common Cause 2019 – both of these cases concerned gerrymandering and the Court applied judicial restraint and originalism, wri9ng ‘We conclude that par9san gerrymandering claims present poli9cal ques9ons beyond the reach of the federal courts.’ Between 2000 and 2007, 10.3 million immigrants arrived, over half of whom were deemed illegal by the authori9es. This then fell slightly, reﬂec9ng the economic decline of the 2008 ﬁnancial crash By 2015 it was es9mated that 93% of all illegal immigrants apprehended came across the USA’s southern border In 2006 Congress authorised the building of 700 miles of fence along part of the border, and by 2010 646 miles of it had been erected along with a virtual fence made up of sensors and other control systems The government shutdown on 22 December 2018 for 35 days, being the longest shutdown in history Kansas V Garcia 2020 – held 5-4 that the Immigra9on Reform and Control Act 1986 does not pre-empt Kansas’s applica9on of its state iden9ty the` and fraud statutes to non-ci9zens – giving states authority to use state laws to prosecute immigrants for supplying false paperwork From 2010 to 2018, more than 400 abor9on-related bills introduced in 41 states were substan9ally copied from model bills wriOen by special-interest groups, 69 of these bills being passed into law In 2018 the NRA had a total income of $412 million and by September 2020 had spent $9.2 million on campaigning to get Donald Trump re-elected EMILY’s List which works for the elec9on of pro-choice Democrat female candidates has raised over $600 million since it started in 1985 The American Associa9on of Re9red Persons had around 37 million members in 2020 In 2019 the Na9onal Right to Life group endorsed Donald Trump while in 2020 the Coali9on to Stop Gun Violence endorsed Joe Biden The total federal lobbying revenue in 2016 was just over $3.1 billion The Susan B Anthony List raised over $10 million to support pro-life candidates prior to the 2020 elec9on, it has a supporter base of over 800,000. In May 2018 Donald Trump addressed the organisa9on’s Annual Campaign for Life Gala The Sierra Club has over 3.8 million members. It focuses on issues like the use of coal and nuclear power and preferring greener alterna9ves, it also opposes fracking. It endorses candidates for poli9cal oﬃce who support its environmentalism. It endorsed Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 The Na9onal Associa9on of Realtors has over 1.4 million members and is the largest trade associa9on in the US. It provides services to its members like training and cer9ﬁca9on and strives to protect their interests, in light of the rise of internet-based estate agents. In the 2019-2020 cycle its PAC raised over $13 million which it allocated equally to Democrat and Republican candidates, the majority of money going to incumbents The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protec9on Act 2010 was to promote the ﬁnancial stability of the US by improving accountability and transparency, protect taxpayers by ending bailouts to failing ﬁnancial ﬁrms, protec9ng consumers from abusive ﬁnancial services prac9ces, etc. It passed 237-192 in the House and 60-39 in the Senate The Jus9ce Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act 2016 authorised federal courts to exercise subject maOer jurisdic9on over any foreign state’s support for acts of interna9onal terrorism against a US na9onal or property regardless of whether the state is designated a state sponsor of terrorism. This was vetoed by Obama but this veto was overridden 97-1 in the Senate and 348-77 in the House Trump vetoed the Na9onal Defense Authoriza9on Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Congress overrode this at 322-87 in the House and 81-13 in the Senate 7 states did not issue orders to stay at home between March and April 2020. Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine was the ﬁrst to issue a state-wide order to close businesses The murder of George Floyd in 2020 was a catalyst for Black Lives MaOer protests which aOracted an es9mated number of people between 15 and 28 million Senator Cornyn was elected Senate Republican Majority Whip in January 2015, ﬁrst elected to the Senate in 2002, showing how quickly people can move up within the Senate The Equal Rights Amendment successfully passed Congress in 1972, but failed to pass the states in 1982 The Balanced Budget Amendment fell through in 2018 even though it gained a majority in the House. 37 states supported it but it needed 38 to pass, those 13 states par9cipa9ng in the ‘tyranny of minority’ Medical use of marijuana with doctor’s recommenda9on is legal in 37 states Biden got through a budget with the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment included in it, and it will become eﬀec9ve through September 30, 2023. This amendment prohibits the Jus9ce Department from spending funds to interfere with state medical cannabis laws 2023 – the Senate passed 81-14 (supported by 33 Democrats) a measure to block the DC Revised Criminal Code Act 2022 which was passed by the Democra9c city council, it is the fourth 9me in history the Congress has overturned a law of Washington DC. Biden has said he will not veto it. The DC Revised Criminal Code Act 2022 was the ﬁrst major overhaul of Washington DC’s criminal code in 100 years, it would’ve taken eﬀect in 2025 and it would’ve reduced maximum sentences for oﬀences like car-jacking and robbery and eliminated mandatory minimum sentencing Berger V North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP 2022 – 8-1 with Sotomayor’s dissent, it means that Republican legislators in North Carolina can act and advocate for a voter-iden9ﬁca9on law that they believe the state’s aOorney general isn’t defending adequately in court Fulton V City of Philadelphia 2021 – refusal of Philadelphia to contract with Catholic Social Services for the provision of foster care services unless Catholic Social Services agrees to cer9fy same-sex couples as foster parents violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment Michigan V EPA 2015 – EPA must consider cost implica9ons of enforcing the Clean Air Act, rather than simply the need to regulate King V Burwell 2015 – subsidies for healthcare can be given to those enrolled in state healthcare exchanges or federal healthcare exchanges Jus9ce Amy Coney BarreO ﬁrmly iden9ﬁed as an originalist in her conﬁrma9on hearings In 1995, Congress withdrew funding for US military involvement in Bosnia, forcing Clinton to remove the troops The Senate failed to vote on Obama’s nomina9on of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016, which allowed Trump to nominate Gorsuch In 2017, Chair of the House Intelligence CommiOee was cri9cised for his lack of independence from Trump when inves9ga9ng alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 US general elec9on The 26th Amendment, passed in 1971, lowered the vo9ng age to 18, overturning Oregon V Mitchell 1970 which allowed states to retain 21 as the vo9ng age for state elec9ons Only jus9ce to be impeached from the Supreme Court was in 1805 In 2016, over the Zika Virus, Obama wanted to spend $1.9 billion whereas the Republicans domina9ng Congress wanted to spend $1.1 billion. This resulted in gridlock and no agreement was reached. The Speaker Paul Ryan cri9cised Obama for not priori9sing healthcare In 2009, mul9ple Democrats dropped their support for Obamacare a`er mee9ngs with cons9tuents and rising opposi9on In 2017, the NY Times stated that 10 moderate Republicans opposed their party’s plan to repeal Obamacare, and they all represented districts that voted for Clinton in 2016 In April 2017, Jeﬀ Merkley (Democrat for Oregon) ﬁlibustered President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Gorsuch. It was the ﬁrst 9me in history a Supreme Court nomina9on had been ﬁlibustered. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (Republican for Kentucky) triggered the legisla9ve manoeuvre known as the nuclear op9on, requiring only a simple majority vote to conﬁrm Gorsuch In November 2013, then Senate leader Harry Reid (Democrat of Nevada) used the nuclear op9on to change the Senate rules requiring only a simple majority for senior judiciary and execu9ve appointments a`er 79 of Obama’s nominees had been blocked by ﬁlibusters, compared with 68 in the en9re history of the USA Obama’s appointment of LoreOa Lynch as aOorney general took 167 days in 2015 from her appointment to her conﬁrma9on

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