U.S.A POLITICS LATEST UPDATE 2024 -2025

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U.S.A POLITICS LATEST UPDATE 2024 -2025

STUDY GUIDE

1: US Constitution and Federalism:

• 1.1The nature of the US constitution
• 1.2The key features of the US constitution and an evaluation of their

effectiveness today

2: US Congress

• 2.1 Structure of congress -
• 2.2 functions of congress
• 2.3 interpretations and debates around Congress

3: US presidency

- 3.1: formal sources of presidential power as outlined in the constitution and

their use

• 3.2 Informal sources of presidential power and their use
• 3.3 The presidency

4: US Supreme Court and civil rights

• 4.1The nature and role of the supreme court
• 4.3The supreme court and public policy
• 4.4 The protection of civil liberties and rights in the US today
• 4.5 race and rights in contemporary US Politics
• 4.6 Interpretations and debates of the US Supreme Court and Civil rights

5: US democracy and participation

• 5.1 Electoral systems in the USA
• 5.2 Key ideas and principles of republican and democrat parties
• 5.3 interest groups in the USA and debates around their significance on the

political structure and democracy, resources, and tactics

• 5.4 Interpretations and debates of US democracy and participation

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U.S.A CONSTITUTION AND FEDERALISM

• Vagueness of the document, codification, and entrenchment
• Constitutional framework and powers of the branches of government
• The amendment process, including advantages and disadvantages of the

formal process

Vagueness of the document:

• Allows for growth and interpretations surrounding the constitution to be

organic and change

• However, has led to the constitution being subject to interpretation,

interpretation being heavily influenced by the political leanings of an individual For example, the second amendment, right to privacy under liberty of the 5 th and 14 th amendments etc.

• Arguably the biggest reason as to why the supreme court are so powerful is

due to the vagueness of the constitution, which can lead to the argument it is not fit for purpose, as the documents give rise to unelected judges being the most powerful people in America. Judgements are strongly guided by ideology- i.e. liberal leaning court in 1973 gave right to abortion through Roe Vs Wade, only for a conservative leaning court to ignore a series of precedents and previous court rulings for half a century and overturn Roe Vs Wade in 2022 through the case of Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization Codification

• the process of drawing up a systematic and authoritative collection of rules,

formally written down Entrenched

• requires a formal process to amend the constitution, requires a super majority

of 2/3 vote in both houses as well as ¾ of states to ratify - entrenchment on

one hand is good:

• ensures amendments are properly thought through, prevents ill thought-out

amendments.

• ensures that tyranny of the majority cannot occur- amendments must have

broad support - protects states and upholds federalism by being hard to amend

However:

• difficulty to amend outdates provisions. 2 / 4

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• enhances the power of the unelected supreme court as they are able to

interpret what is and what is not constitutional.

• states’ rights could be argued to have trumped the majority’s interests.

Entrenchment facts, examples and debates:

• Despite 11,000 constitutional amendment proposals, just 27 amendments

have been successful. 10 of these came through the Bill of Rights, meaning there have actually been just 17 since 1791.

• In theory 2% of the total population could block an amendment- as the 13

smallest states could block the will of 37 largest. In practice this has also occurred- over the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA was a widely popular amendment which provided legal sex equality and prohibited discrimination. It passed congress in 1972 and despite over 75% of the population represented by 60% of states wanting the amendment passed, confirmation did not occur after a religious right ‘stop ERA’ campaign was launched. To this day it still has not been affirmed as part of the U.S. constitution.

• Entrenchment ensures that only sufficiently thought through amendments are

passed- for example, the Corwin Amendment (1861) was rejected, which would have allowed slavery to be a states’ right.

• Lucas Miller proposed amendment 1893- ‘united states of the earth’- was

rejected, in failing to meet the strict criterion. This is arguably a good thing given the trouble that this would have caused internationally.

• However, the notion that entrenchment prevents ill-thought-out amendments

is arguably questionable: the 18

th amendment prohibited liquor and was ratified in 1919 but gave rise to alcohol being sold illegally on the black market, through which the mafia became prominent. It was subsequently repealed in 1933.The designated powers to each branch of the US constitution: (enumerated powers)

Congress:

• collects taxes
• propose legislation, pass legislation
• initiate and pass constitutional amendments
• power to declare war
• power over passing budget, provide and oversee proper public expenditure
• ratification powers of treaties and appointments
• oversight and investigations
• impeachment powers over public officials

Key features of the US Constitution:

The separation of powers

• to avoid tyranny of one branch, the formal separation of powers is the case in

the US, with each branch having the ability to check one another and their 3 / 4

pg. 4 4 power. No member of one branch can be a member of another branch at the same time, with the only exception being the Vice President who in the case of a tie has a vote in the senate, and is presiding officer of the senate

CHECKS ON THE OTHER BRANCHES:

Checks and Balances of congress on the Executive Branch:

Amend/ delay/ reject legislative proposals Examples by president Biden

• Joe Biden: failed to pass the Build Back better legislation, as opposition from

both republicans and democrats were effective, even after compromise

• Joe Biden failed to pass voting rights and legislation that would remove the

filibuster

• Joe Biden saw the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act pass after

compromise between Republican and Democratic Senators surrounding physical infrastructure and the IRS proportion of funding, which was scrapped TRUMP

• Trump failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, something that had been a

campaign key goal, due to opposition from Democrats and more moderate republicans such as John McCain

• Failed to pass the American energy and infrastructure act
• Trump failed to secure funding for his border wall proposals, as he signed the

budget in 2017 without funding within it.

• Again, failed in 2019 as the 35-day government shutdown occurred, and

trump signed the budget without the 5.7 billion he had demanded to get to fund his border wall OBAMA

• Comprehensive cap and trade bill to combat climate change, failed, had to

resort to executive action

• Forced into compromise over the Affordable Care Act, after Blue Dog

opposition

• Failed to pass the DREAM ACT, which failed to overcome a senate filibuster

in a 55- 41 vote override presidential veto

• Obama Repeatedly failed to pass any gun control legislation, including

attempts to limit the size of gun magazines, expanded background checks of gun buyers, several proposals were not even voted upon, despite heartfelt appeals by Obama after the Sandy Hook shooting, in which he cried Override presidential veto

• 2/3 required.
• Happened 4/12 times to George W Bush
• Happened to trump, with the national defense authorization act
• Happened to Obama with the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism act
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