under her guidance the 111th US Congress was said to be the most productive in the history of its conception. This means that she was
territory of the United States. The islands of Puerto Rico were acquired by the United States in 1898, where Spain ceded the islands to the U.S. In 1917, the Jones Act declared Puerto Rico to be an “organized but incorporated” territory of the United States, and granted US citizenship to all the residents who wanted it. An “unincorporated territory”, according to the US Supreme Court Insular Cases, of the Unites States is ‘a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part
Upon first examination, the idea of implementing term limits in Congress is appealing. In fact, the idea of term limits was initially discussed by our founders, though it was eventually decided that it should not be included in the Constitution (Newton-Small, 2010). The reasons for considering term limits have remained consistent since the beginning of the country, however, and include ensuring legislative turnover, limiting the abuse of the power of seniority, and decreasing the advantages given
The United States government system is very interesting and complexly designed. The state and federal government is a mirror of each other when it comes to the generics of the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch, however, internally the state government has major differences on how the branches are conducted. Throughout this paper we will discuss the greatest difference between state and federal, which is the state cannot change or remove laws passed by the federal government
“Federalism is the sharing of power between national and state governments.” (Monk, “Federalism”). Founded over 200 years ago, we use federalism in many ways even today. We use it to divide powers between the national and state governments, meaning that the national government does not have complete say over some of the states’ laws and regulations. Federalism was first created and founded by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and George Washington. Their goal was to try and balance order with
Campaigns The current use of soft money in the US Governmental elections is phenomenal. The majority of candidates funding comes from soft money donations. Congress has attempted to close these funding loop holes; however they have had little success. Soft money violates standards set by congress by utilizing the loop hole found in the Federal Election Commission’s laws of Federal Campaigns. This practice of campaign funding should be eliminated from all governmental elections
These powers are indefinite, and have greatly expanded ever since Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidency. The President may mobilize troops, and with this action, may begin undeclared war - all without the checks of Congress. Though Congress is the only body allowed to declare war, the President may marshal forces to other countries that therefore ignites military action or “undeclared war”. Historically, these military powers have been occurring more often and expanding. A large
The founding fathers composed the United State 's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, which was put into effect in 1781. Moreover, this constitution was known as the “league of friendship” and had major faults embedded within it. Consequently, these major faults lead to the formulation of a new constitution, the United States Constitution, which was put into effect in 1789, in which we still use today. The constitutions are both similar in retrospect but when one compares them directly
Presidential power has always been controversial. Congress and the Judiciary have clashed with both Bush and Clinton administrations over matters of executive privilege, impeachment, and the war on terror. Almost all modern presidents have moved to expand their power. So it is an even bet that given the foreign policy challenges of Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea—not to mention the disruptions to the domestic economy of the credit crisis—Barack Obama will soon be drawing on the well of executive
current system of the U.S. government. Congressmen and Congresswomen having term limits will lead to diversity because open seats in Congress will bring attention to new types of people. What is meant by new types of people is when Edward H. Crane mentions in his article Congressional Term Limits on paragraph 7 Proposition 140 in California, which is limiting the state Assembly to three two year terms. This proposition made the 1992 Assembly elections result in “ In an article on that freshman class
influence on the campaign elections of Congress is Reappointment and Redistricting. “Reapportionment is the reallocation of seats in the House of Representatives on the basis of the changes in a state’s population since the last census. Redistricting is the redrawing of congressional boundaries within a state” (Harrison, pg. 357). That being said, the incumbent gains an advantage because districting is often manipulated in their favor. Term-Limits for Congress are another internal factor that influences
monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation.”[1] There is a congressional committee and a system in place in order for Congress to largely exercise this power. With that said oversight goes back to the early days of the republic which also includes activities and contexts of Congress. Some of the activities and contexts included are: investigative, appropriations, and legislative hearings; by committees, select committee’s special investigations, and
Ogden Part A Gibbons v. Ogden was a case in which the United States Supreme Court upheld that the powers are given to regulate commerce, granted to Congress by the commerce clause of the United States Constitution, the authority to regulate the navigation of waterways. In 1809 Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton were given exclusive shipping privileges of all the waters within the jurisdiction of that State by the Legislature of the State of New York, to boats or vessels powered by coal or steam
Congresswoman Linda Sanchez once said, “As a member of Congress, I’m often reminded that in baseball, as in diplomacy, you have to know when to hit, when to run, and when to show grace.” I felt that this quote impeccably describes the relationship between the many theoretical approaches involved with diplomacy. Although, there are a vast number of methods practiced in diplomacy, the two most prevalent are soft power and hard power, which were both coined by political scientist Joseph Nye. Today,
Judicial review is the power of the courts to declare acts of Congress to be in conflict with the Constitution. Judicial review is often seen as controversial and has contending views. Additionally, many people believe the founders would not approve use of the judicial review based on essays from 1788. In addition, many people respond to the Supreme Court’s use of the judicial review differently, such as the President views it differently than the average American citizen. And while judicial restraint
so much. Oregon saw this and created a law in 1903 that stated that women were only allowed to work a maximum of ten hours a day. Similar laws had been passed in other states so it made some people wonder, did the Oregon law violate the women's freedom of contract implicit in the liberty protected by due process? In other states, people had broken these laws or brought them before the court claiming that the restraint on the number of hours was unconstitutional and the fourteenth amendment was used
unacceptable for them to be managers, administrators, doctors, lawyers, and Members of Congress. The unspoken assumption is that women are different. They do not have executive ability orderly minds, stability, leadership skills, and they are too emotional. It has been observed before, that society for a long time, discriminated It is for this reason that I wish to introduce today a proposal that has been before every Congress for the last 40 years and that sooner or later must become part of the basic law
Private law deals with basic civil litigations involving private people and it also deals with petty crimes. It can be described as being “the basic law of the land” . In contrast, public law deals with “the effectuation of the public interest by state action.” It deals with ‘constitutional’ law, criminal law and administrative law and it also deals with disputes involving
authority in regard to foreign policy making, and whether the Congress ought to hold a significant role in the foreign decision making process, it is imperative to take into account the executive powers vested on the U.S presidency. This paper posits that the Presidency should be considered to be dominant, while at other times the Congress should be considered to be the dominant authority. In this perspective, it is essential that the Congress plays an important role in the foreign policy making process
issue that reigns havoc in many countries and because of this American citizens are afforded religious freedom through the US constitution. The goal of the United States government has never been to make our nation irreligious but to uphold the values of religious freedom. In the 2011 article ‘The True Meaning of Separation of Church and State’ by Bill Flax, “Faith is no civil contract, but a personal matter not to be profaned by politics.” These are the exact intentions of the US Constitution and