Blog post: Supreme Court

  The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the judicial branch of the government and the highest court in the country. It has jurisdiction over state and local governments. The supreme court's main job is to interpret the law and defend the constitution. the do this by often hearing cases from smaller courts and ensuring cases follow the rules and laws laid out in the constitution.

Supreme Court Case of 1952: Brown V. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, was a decision in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. The Court's unanimous decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal", and violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Browns and twelve other black families similarly filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court against the Topeka Board of Education, claiming that its segregation policy was unconstitutional. The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas held a verdict against the Browns, using the precedent of the Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, where the Court had ruled that racial segregation was not a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The Browns, who were represented by Thurgood Marshall, appealed to the Supreme Court . The Court's decision overruled Plessy v. Ferguson by declaring that the "separate but equal" doctrine was unconstitutional for American public schools and educational facilities

the Supreme Court has so much power because it is necessary to give a body of people the ability to discuss issues that could impact many people and allow them to throughly study the constitution and ensure that even the smallest of cases brought to them are being done properly.

The nine current Supreme Court justices are: Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Stephen Breyer, Amy Barrett

For more information about the United States Supreme Court, visit its website : https://www.supremecourt.gov  

Blog Post #4

 

First Amendment: Freedom of the Press

The constitution when defining the first amendment states the following: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This means that when it comes to issues of religion, speech, peaceful assembly, petitioning the government or the press, the government cannot interfere in such a way that would violate said rights. and while many would think that it would be easy for the government to avoid interfering with the rights of citizens we tend to see it more than we should. especially when it comes to the freedom of the press.

This issue of government interference with the freedom of the press was seen recently during the presidency of the 45th president, Donald J. Trump. According to an article written by Sally Gimson entitled US media freedom fraying at the edges, there was a lot of attention drawn to the issue because of Trumps frequent and public bouts with members of the press during his conferences and his "slanderous" comments about certain news outlets that did not cover him as well as he wanted which he often dubbed as "fake news". A New York Times article (

Trump Renews Pledge to ‘Take a Strong Look’ at Libel Laws) discusses how Former President Trump wanted to make it easier for people to sue organizations for cases of "defamation" the former leader also proceeded to call the country's libel laws a "sham" and during this same period of time, his own lawyer filed a lawsuit against major news outlet, Buzzfeed. This obsession with the nation's libel laws began after Trumps team caught wind of the White House's negative looks in a book that was set to be published and released by Michael Wolfe. The ACLU slammed Trump's claims and confirmed that what he was trying to do was not only not credible but unconstitutional.

If the first amendment in our bill of rights is said to "guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely." then that is exactly what it should do and we should had our govenement officials accountable for upholding that right.

The Eight Values Of Free Expression

 My Favorites of the

8 Values Of Free Expression

#1: Discovery of Truth  

This is one of my favorite Values of Expression because I believe that honesty will always prevail. Honesty in general, but especially when it comes to government, is extremely important. Milton developed this value to suggest that when the truth and deception or dishonesty are given the opportunity to clash or are presented together, the truth will always prevail. For example, if someone who is clearly right were to argue with someone who is just as obviously wrong, the person who is wrong would lose, therefore making the other person's truth even stronger.  Honesty and trust are important parts of what makes the relationship between people or citizens and their government strong and durable. If everyone was always dishonest with one another, nobody would have really, fulfilling relationship and nobody would trust each other. This value is most important in government or when writing about political topic because if your want the public to trust your writing in the professional world then It is important to be honest. Honest speech is hard to find in today's society and also much easier to uncover lies.  That is why now, more than ever, it is extremely important to be open and honest before someone else uncovers the deceit instead.

#2: Participation in Self-Government

Participation in self government is another one of my favorite values of free expression because I agree with the belief "that citizens won't make informed choices in elections if the candidates and advocates of certain policies are not given the full in ability to communicate their positions." without proper knowledge about eh candidates hat are voting for, potential voters will either not vote or vote with no reasoning behind their choice because there is no information available to them that is why the internet is a great advancement because now we can do the research and connect with out candidates and their teams.  all citizens must be informed about public issues so they can participate effectively, whether by voting or by running office. other ways that citizens can participate include: signing petitions, writing letters to representatives, serving as a juror, or even serving in the military. we, as citizens have the full and undeniable right to participate in governing our nation and if we want to make our country the better place to live we all need to do our part and increase citizen participation.

The Progressive Era (1896–1916)

 

The Progressive Era

(1896-1916)

Background:

• The progressive era was initiated as a response to political and corporate business abuses.

• An active belief that the government should solve the people's problems prevailed.

• the people who supported the reforms, "progressives", came from all walks of life and supported and rallied against a variety of causes which include but are not limited to:

Corrupt Political Machines

a political machine is a political group in which a leader or small group command the support of supporters and businesses, who receive money as reward for their efforts. The machine's power is based on the ability of the  group to get out the vote for their candidates on election day.

• Progressives had 4 Main Goals
1. Protect Social Welfare
2. Promote Moral Improvement
3. Create Economic Reform
4. Foster Efficiency

❗KEY TERMS ALERT❗

Muckraker: Group of Journalists who discover the nation's problems and write about them

Secret Ballot:Votes that are cast in secret

Direct Primary:Allows voters to directly select candidates rather than having them being selected by party leaders

Recall:Process by which voters could remove the elected official from office before the end of his term

Referendum:Process that allows citizens to reject or accept laws passed by legislature

Trustbusting: Breaking up large monopolies into smaller competing businesses

• Sherman antitrust act
•  Clayton antitrust act 

In short the progressive era was a time of change and reform, the movement responded to the economic political and social challenges caused by the changing society of the late American 1800s.