Learning Log—Judicial branch

The courts are in place for justice. They punish people for their crimes and settle disputes between people or parties. The Supreme Court plays a major role in which laws we follow because they interpret the constitution and have the power of judicial review. (Judicial review- being able to strike down any laws or executive actions that are unconstitutional). The Framers decided that the courts will get their independence from other branches by giving federal judges lifetime terms. They did not touch on the issue of judicial review because they couldn't agree whether or not the Supreme Court should have that power, considering many wanted them to be the weakest branch. The only reason it gained power was because John Marshall became the chief Justice and a Mr. Marbury was cheated out of his job as a judge. Marbury took the case to court (Marbury v Madison). The Supreme Court thought that Marbury should get his job but they believed that if that was their decision, then the president would ignore their ruling and undermined them. They decided that Marbury deserved his commission but that they could not give him his job because that was unconstitutional. It was the first of many times that they declared something unconstitutional throughout the years and in the decision Marshall established their right to judicial review. What I don’t understand is why everyone listened to them and let them declare that they have the power to say if a law is unconstitutional, if they were supposed to be so weak and the constitution didn't touch on the power? It doesn't make sense; they won’t give Marbury his job because they fear the president will undermine them by ignoring the decision, and then they flat out declared something unconstitutional for the first time and gave themselves the power of judicial review.  Did they also declare that they had the final decision, and what they say goes, in Marbury v Madison?  If that rule was already put into place before the case then there would not be the issue of questioning if the president would honor their decision. The President may not like it and try to put it off but there would be no way around not giving Marbury his job.          

Helpful Link

Hey guys I was searching up supreme justices and I found this great website that lists all the justices in our U.S history and give quick details about them if you click on their name. Please check it out it will help you a lot on the homework!

http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members.aspx

Senate Passes First Budget in 4 Years!

I woke up to this on the radio and in my email inbox.  It is BIG NEWS (even though the Senate and the House will most likely not be able to reconcile their budgets.)  They stayed up all night to do this.

If you are still making an effort to understand how Congress works, it is important that you read about Congress' current work.  Read this article, make connections to our study of Congress and comment below for extra credit.  

BREAKING NEWS Saturday, March 23, 2013 5:30 AM EDT

Senate Passes $3.7 Trillion Budget, Its First in 4 Years After an all-night debate that ended close to 5 a.m., the Senate on Saturday adopted its first budget in four years, a $3.7 trillion blueprint for 2014 that would fast-track passage of tax increases, trim spending gingerly and leave the government deeply in debt a decade from now. The 50-49 vote sets up contentious — and potentially fruitless — negotiations with the Republican-dominated House to reconcile two different visions for dealing with the nation’s economic and budgetary problems. No Republicans voted for the Senate plan, and four Democrats, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Begich of Alaska, and Max Baucus of Montana, also opposed it. All four are Red State Democrats up for re-election in 2014. In contrast, the House plan ostensibly brings the government’s taxes and spending into balance by 2023 with cuts to domestic spending even below levels the automatic “sequestration” levels roiling federal programs now, and it orders up significant changes to Medicare and the tax code. READ MORE » http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/us/politics/senate-passes-3-7-trillion-budget-its-first-in-4-years.html?emc=na

Get to Know the Filibuster In Real Time

Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky filibusters the Obama nomination of John O. Brennan as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Link to filibuster video:  http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN2/

Link to article:  http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/rand-paul-filibusters-brennan-nomination/

Questions to Consider:

1. What does this political update tell you about the roles and responsibilities of Senators?
2. According to the article, why does Senator Paul oppose the nomination of Brennan?
3. Using evidence from the article, identify what is noteworthy about this filibuster.

Share your answers in the comments below for extra homework/classwork credit.

Obama's Inauguration

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/chris-christie-obama_n_2544725.html#slide=2007450

Chris Christie, previously alienated by the GOP for his support of Obama's reelection and criticisms of the Republican Party's response to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, stands out in full opposition to Obama now.  He said "its my way or the highway" pertaining to the president's objective of his speech.  Rep. Boehner said Obama was on a mission to "annihilate the Republican Party." Similarly, Sn. McConnell claimed that Obama is attempting to invoke an "era of liberalism."  

Obama's Immigration Plan

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-immigration-reform-speech-20130129,0,3033072.story

http://timelines.latimes.com/obama-speech-immigration-reform/

The first link is a video of President Obama's speech in Las Vegas about immigration plan.
In the second link you will be able to see a transcript of his speech. I couldn't find a video with the transcript but you could minimize both of these windows to fit your screen.

On January 29, 2013 at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada President Obama spoke about how he will be dealing with immigrants in this country. His plan for immigration reform is similar to the one that was dictated by the bipartisan group of senators on January 20, 2013. First of all, as President Obama says in his speech, we will have to work on tightening the security at the borders which has been unsuccessful since the year 2000 and businesses will have to check people's employment statues before hiring anyone because even if it's unknowingly businesses hire illegal immigrants because they have no proof of who they are. Finally, it maybe be a long process but if people want a green card that leads up to a citizenship then they are going to have to get their background checked, pay all the taxes that own since they have been living here in America, pay a penalty for coming illegally, learn English and will have to wait until the people who are waiting in line to come to America legally.  

 

President Obama clearly states that yes the immigrants have broken the rules but they have done so much to help America. I was amazed to find out that Google and Yahoo we both created by an immigrant and so were Intel and Instagram and these immigrants studied in the United States and stayed here. However, people that were born here, studied here decide to go an work of other countries so basically we are creating our competitors. America is a nation of immigrants, it is a place where people can  make a future. Coming from different countries it not easy because they face many problems such as racism and because they are here to earn for their lives and families, people take advantage of them by paying them low wages for double the work but the immigrants do it because they have no other choice.

 

According to President Obama's plan he believes that immigrant will be able to come out of their shadows and show that they also exist. They will also be able to know that we do care for them and know that they are also one of us. I am very happy to see President Obama doing such a difficult task that can takes years to happen but he is taking the risk. The best thing is that Democrats and Republicans are working together on this so it might be better and more successful than any other plan ever made.

 

Now my question to you is what is this process takes too long maybe more that four years than what will happen to the immigrants if a Republican is a President and is very conservative? Is it really a good idea by letting more immigrants coming in the country when we already have 11 million illegal immigrants in this country? How will citizens of America react to this plan? Will it create more chaos and problem for the economy?

Some Helpful Links

Hello everyone. During today's class when everyone was doing the current events check-in, were you confused about a topic or two? Three or four topics? Perhaps all of them? Well, have no fear, I have found several links that should help you gain enough knowledge to easily answer those questions.

Also, in addition to the two links Ms. Blatteau gave us in our lesson plan (on bottom of post), I highly recommend using Google News as a way of finding out more information about current topics. All of the links to the answers of the questions below were found using that resource. I never knew until today how great of a news search engine it is, so I recommend checking it out!

1. What major issues was President Obama speaking about in Las Vegas this week?
http://www.voanews.com/content/obama_focuses_on_us_immigration_reform/1592944.html
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/30/immi-j30.html

2. What is going on with local New Haven politics?
http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/politics/destefano-wont-seek-reelection#.UQw4CKVZXSg
http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_haven_cty/candidates-to-replace-mayor-destefano#.UQw4xaVZXSg

3. In Connecticut, what is the topic of multiple public hearings that are happening in Hartford different parts of the state?
http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/politics/public-hearing-on-mental-health-issues#.UQw6LaVZXSg
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Father-of-Newtown-victim-heckled-at-hearing-4228992.php

4. Who did the Senate confirm for Secretary of State? Whom did he replace?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/opinion/brazile-hillary-clinton/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/hillary-clinton-resigns_n_2600344.html

5. Why is Chuck Hagel in the news?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/01/31/chuck-hagel-was-bad-and-it-doesnt-matter/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-blackwell/mr-president-chuck-hagel_b_2599752.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-hagel-confirmation-hearings-20130201,0,7189272.story

Links to Review (from lesson plan)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/

I hope everyone has a nice, productive weekend!