1.Constitution

Question 1

President’s Presidential Veto over Congress

Answer 1

Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2

Iran War Powers Resolution – May 06 2020 - Trump vetoed bipartisan resolution of Congress to limit President’s use of military force against Iran

Question 2

President’s nomination of judges and power of pardon over the Judiciary

Answer 2

Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 and Clause 2

From 2017-2020, Trump nominated 3 right-leaning judges to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett

Question 3

Congress’s override of a Presidential Veto over the President

Answer 3

Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 - Trump’s Presidential Veto overridden by the House in a 322-87 vote and overridden in the Senate by an 81-13 vote

Question 4

Congress can also use the Power of the Purse to defund the President’s proposals

Answer 4

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1

Obama’s 2009 executive order aimed to close Guantanamo Bay within the year, but Congress passed the Supplemental Appropriations Act 2009 to block funds for transfer or release of detainees despite a Democrat majority in both Houses

Question 5

Congress power to refuse to approve presidential appointments over the President

Answer 5

Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2

On the 15th of February 2017 , President Trump’s nomination for Secretary of Labor, Andrew Pudzer did not reach the required number of votes to be confirmed

Question 6

Congress’s (Senate’s) power to refuse to ratify treaties over the President

Answer 6

Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2

On October 13th 1999, the Republican controlled Senate rejected the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed by Democrat President Bill Clinton

Question 7

Congress’s power to Impeach the President

Answer 7

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 5

In February 2021, the second impeachment of President Trump began, after the US Capitol attack, though the Senate vote did not meet the 2/3 majority required

Question 8

Congress’s power to make constitutional amendments to overturn judicial decisions over the Judiciary

Answer 8

In 1793, Alexander Chisholm sued Georgia for money. The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution allowed the courts to rule on cases between citizen and states. To directly counter-act this decision, the 11th Amendment was adopted

Question 9

Congress power to refuse to approve people nominated to the federal courts over the Judiciary/President

Answer 9

Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2

In March 2016, Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. The Republican controlled Senate refused to hold hearings on Garland’s nomination

Question 10

Judiciary power of judicial review of laws over Congress

Answer 10

Article 3, Section 2, Clause 1

Supreme Court ruled in the case of Buckley v Valeo 1976 that election spending limits that came were unconstitutional under the 1st amendment

Question 11

Judiciary power of judicial review of the actions of the President over the President

Answer 11

Article 3, Section 2, Clause 1

President Trump’s Executive Order Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the US in 2017 which stated that jurisdictions that did not comply with immigration enforcement measures would not be eligible to receive Federal grants, was declared unconstitutional by Judge William Orrick III, due to the 10th amendment

Question 12

A poll on Obama’s Federal government…

Answer 12

-50% of people thought the federal government was ‘doing too much’ and 45% though it ‘should do more’

Question 13

2nd Amendment

Answer 13

Right to bear arms

Question 14

1st Amendment

Answer 14

Right to a freedom of religion, speech, press, free assembly, and the right to petition the government

Question 15

6th Amendment

Answer 15

Right to a fair trial

Question 16

10th Amendment

Answer 16

Confirms that all powers not spelt out in the Constitution are reserved for the states and the people

Question 17

Maintained Federal responsibilities

Answer 17

• Upheld rights in Article 1, Section 8 which gives the federal government the sole rights to “establish an uniform Rule of Naturalisation”
• Graham v Department of Public Welfare (1971) Supreme Court struck down Arizona state law which stopped non-US citizens from claiming welfare benefits until they had lived in the US for 14 years. It was struck down for going against the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

Question 18

Maintained States’ rights

Answer 18

• 10th Amendment rights that give un-delegated powers to the states upheld
• National Federation of Independent Business v Sebelius (2012) ruled by the Supreme Court that the categorial grants attached to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) by Obama was unconstitutional
• Ruled this way as Justices argued that the threat of the withdrawal of all federal funding to Medicaid to states that refused to expand their Medicaid programmes was unconstitutionally coercive

Question 19

Maintained Rights of the individual (right to bear arms)

Answer 19

-In the case of District of Columbia v Heller (2008) the Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd Amendment protects the individual’s right to keep and bear arms that is not contingent on service in a militia. Settling the dispute created from the different interpretations of the clause

Question 20

Maintained Rights of the individual (Abortion Laws)

Answer 20

-Case of Roe v Wade (1973) Supreme Court conclude that laws that such laws are unconstitutional as they violate the people’s right to privacy from the 4th Amendment and under the 14th Amendment’s Due Process of the Law Clause, states may only restrict abortions toward end of a pregnancy to protect the life of the woman or foetus

Question 21

Hindered Rights of the individual (Assisted suicide)

Answer 21

• Judged on by the Supreme Court in Washington v Glucksberg (1997) where Washington state law that banned assisted-suicide was upheld
• Campaigners argued it was unconstitutional due to the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment which says that no state can ‘deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law’
• Supreme Court unanimously disagreed due to 700 years of Anglo-American common law that has disapproved of assisting suicide

Question 22

Abolishing segregation - Race Rights

Answer 22

• In Brown v Topeka Board of Education (1954) which ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional
• Overturned the ‘separate but equal’ policy precedent by Plessy v Ferguson