Just days after a federal court in Washington, DC found that Texas' redistricting maps were discriminatory, another three-judge panel in the nation's capitol found that it was unlawful to require voters to present photo ID's to election officials before they would be allowed to vote in the upcoming presidential elections in November. ... Attorney General Eric Holder compared the voter ID law to poll taxes enforced in the days after Reconstruction when blacks were not allowed to vote. ... "We don't want people voting multiple times" and "you can get a photo ID free from yo...

• Word Count: 786
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Introduction: "We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth, peace, security, liberty, our family, our friends, our home. But when we look at our flag and behold it emblazoned with all our rights we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. ... After seven years of labor the servants were free to start a new life. ... The indentured free servants ran into the Native Americans where they confront numerous amounts of conflicts. ... Most of these laws were already on the books for consideration well before Bacon was elected to the Burgesses. ...

• Word Count: 2392
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In one perspective we are offered that it is probably a coincidence that no blacks had ever been elected for the office, and that a street closing is just a routine traffic control decision. ... A series of these laws were known as black codes. They were designed to govern movement, marriage, work relations, and most major aspects of freed person's life. Basically these black codes were another name for the same thing that was happening before the civil war, only with a slight compliance with constitution. Not much had changed in the actual implementation of rights for freed slaves until...

• Word Count: 793
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

One of the earliest known examples of white collar crime under the definition we use today occurred in the late 19th century. ... The two companies were basically owned by the same individuals, so the company officials pocketed millions of dollars in profits from the excess or kickbacks of the ultra high bills (Berger, Free and Searles 341). There were other corporate and political crimes being committed during this time in history, but this particular crime was one of the more famous cases. ... It should be obvious that "soft money" is a growing problem and dare I say threat to our syst...

• Word Count: 2580
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Lincoln realized this and stated that this nation was "dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal." ... After the war was over the American people knew what it felt like to finally be free. While they still remained free, Americans began to treat other races and cultures as the British had treated them. ... Perhaps the greatest irony is the fact that the southern states now wanted to be free, and separate from the northern states. ... These charges were proven by the numerous times Lincoln went against what the constitution stated to suit his own agenda. ...

• Word Count: 1438
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Instead, federal agents charged him with violating the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, and the state charges were dropped. ... The Gun-Free School Zones Act prohibits possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of any school in the United States. ... In its defense before the Supreme Court, the Clinton Justice Department cited the commerce clause as justification for the law. ... S. vs Lopez the Court, by a 5 to 4 vote, found unconstitutional a provision of the Gun-Free School Zone Act that made it a federal crime to possess a gun (even one that never traveled across state lines) within a thousa...

• Word Count: 1219
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Although the Supreme Court decided that African Americans, free or not, weren't citizens and therefore couldn't sue in public court, as well as stating the federal government couldn't regulate slavery in territories acquired after the creation of the United States, it was one of the first clear examples of due process of law. ... These first ten amendments are the very basis of American life, and if you were to take away even one or two of them, life as the current generation of Americans know it will be altered forever, perhaps irreversibly. ... Amendments four through six ar...

• Word Count: 953
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The three Circuit Courts, which were also trial courts under the original legislation, were to convene only twice per year in each state. ... We do not have to listen to you. ... And by the way, we (the Court) are the ones who decide who wins this fight, not you." ... Logically, if all of the powers were listed, we would not be able to understand or embrace the document; it is not possible to write everything. ... Monopolies prevented free flow and fair competition among businesses and were definitely an unconstitutional characteristic of our nation....

• Word Count: 1399
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Summary of Derek Bok's "Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus Derek Bok, writing in the Boston Globe in 1991, offered an argument against the First Amendment protecting free speech. ... Lately racism problems have occurred including one at Harvard University where confederate flags were hung and this offended students who believe the flag represents slavery. ... While the majority Harvard students would not be offended by the flags, if there is a small percentage that is we must take that into account. ... Bok explains that offensive communication is much more difficult to ju...

• Word Count: 590
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In court, the defendant, Phelps, attempted to prove that the signs were meant to express a public concern, rather than target the Snyder burial itself, and that his group was exercising its First Amendment right of free speech and expression. ... They picketed for approximately a half hour before the funeral and ended the picketing as the funeral began.xi In addition, the Phelps' published an "epic " on their website that clearly targeted Matthew Snyder personally, entitled "The Burden of Marine Corporal Matthew Snyder. ... He was not disturbed by the WBC during the funeral itself or be...

• Word Count: 3341
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Few people were willing to challenge or defy societal norms, weary of being branded "un-American", and therefore, a communist. ... "McCarthyism", as it was called, forced many government officials and Hollywood celebrities to go before McCarthy and the rest of the committee, in order to deny their involvement with the Communist Party. ... Although the 1950's were overwhelmingly conservative, the decade was not without change, especially in the field of race relations. ... Sexual practices were rarely discussed outside the bedroom and sexuality itself was viewed as either unimportant, i...

• Word Count: 3509
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The laws" intent was to afford underprivileged minority groups" equal opportunities for employment that were available to the white male. ... We are now seeing more women, white and black primarily, black men and even the American native Indian in the American workplace. Although this has attributed to the overall growth in achieving a more diverse workplace, it is not the free ticket for minorities to enter into the workplace in any area of work. Certain standards must be met before affirmative action can ever play a role in determining who is hired. ... The law school is ____ up to for...

• Word Count: 1980
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Louisiana Purchase and national health care legislation were two historic events in the history of the United States. ... French resources were spread thin already, and the Louisiana Territory being an Ocean away did not help either. When Napoleon heard that the United States population was growing rapidly, he knew it was only a matter of time before the Americans would start spilling over into the French territory, and there was little that he could do to stop them. ... As Henry Adams said: "The sale of Louisiana to the United States was trebly invalid; if it were French property, Bo...

• Word Count: 2314
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

It consisted of having a judge, before wiretapping, to verify that any special case being investigated like this, met the requirements in order to conduct the surveillance. ... In this case, we are talking about one of the superpowers of the world, the biggest government with a spotlight on it, where the President of the United States is the most famous person around the world, even considered a celebrity in some places. ... The Executive branch's power was increasing, and Congressmen were just thinking about their own benefits and controlling their lower level positions for them not to f...

• Word Count: 1471
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Madison decision, the Marshall court enjoyed a new found power, but rarely found occasion to use it since most of the cases that were heard were rather trivial private law disputes. ... Two questions which found their way before the Supreme Court were whether or not Congress had the authority regulate commerce and the power of the states to impose regulations on business. ... This was in large part accomplished by the appointment of many justices by Republican presidents who supported a free market economy. ... The membership of the court changed dramatically under Roosevelt due to the fact th...

• Word Count: 2022
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

When we talk about incorporation of the amendments of the Constitution, we are mainly talking about the Bill of Rights. ... While today most states are held to the Bill of Rights, there was some debate regarding on how we should get here. Some were in favor of total incorporation, while others preferred selective incorporation. ... (Kommers et al., 117) Black and Frankfurter's views were most noticeably on display in a pair of Supreme Court cases in the mid 1900s. ...

• Word Count: 2594
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) The rights of handicapped persons to enjoy equal employment opportunities were established on the federal level with the enactment of the "Rehabilitation Act of 1973" (29 U.S.C. 701-794). ... At the time of the ADA's passage in 1990, "two-thirds of people with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 64" were unemployed. ... United Airlines, the Court rejected the arguments on behalf of Suttons that "they were regarded as disabled because they were precluded from engaging in the major life activity of working in the job of global airline pi...

• Word Count: 2900
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Finally, the period from 1937 to 1960, in which individual civil rights were at the center of the Court will be looked at. ... It was in this suit that two citizens of South Carolina brought an action against the state of Georgia for the recovery of a debt and members from Georgia refused to appear for defense, leading the Court to declare that states were indeed suable, rendering a judgment for the citizens of South Carolina. ... Georgia were upheld, the members of the Court still realized that the Constitution itself did not explicitly give to them the power that they desired. ... This ...

• Word Count: 4341
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate