Thursday, December 12, 2019

Day 38 - Semester Review

Learning Targets:
  • See all previous learning targets from this year
Opener:  Which 3 terms from your N-50 do you think are the most central to understanding US Government.

Activity #1 - Practice Tests

Personal Progress Check:

1.  Login to My AP Classroom - https://myap.collegeboard.org

2.  Take the Unit 2 PPC

3.  Examine the items that you have missed

Activity #2 - M&M PERP
Use the PERP method of analysis to examine the landmark cases of Marbury v Madison and McCulloch v Maryland

Activity #3 - Final Prep

Below are list of terms, documents, and skills that are required to be successful on the semester I final. Be able to define, provide examples, or relevant quotes from the following.

Exam Format:

Multiple Choice
25 stimulus based
25 knowledge/application based

Written
1 Short Answer
1 Document
1 Cartoon
1 Graph
1 Case

Terms and Documents:
Social Contract
Popular Sovereignty
DoI
Representative Democracy
AoC
Connecticut Compromise
Preamble
Federalism
Federalist/Anti-Federalist
Federalist Paper #10, #51, #70, #78
Brutus
Ratification (⅔ and ¾)
Separation of Powers
Checks and Balances
Delegated/Implied/Concurrent Powers
Commerce Clause
Necessary and Proper Clause
Supremacy Clause
Bicameral
Committees
Executive Authority (EO and EA)
Bureaucracy
Policy Making
Judicial Review
Restraint vs Activism
Iron Triangle


Analytical Skills and Formats:
Documents: ASAP
Data: TIP-C
Cartoons: OSAM
Cases: PERP



Close - District Benchmark:

Friday, December 6, 2019

Day 37 - Are You an Activist or Restrained?

"Don't judge judges, unless you know the law and understand why they make the decisions that they do" - Antonin Scalia

Learning Targets:  Students will be able to....
  • Explain the principle of judicial review and how it checks the power of other institutions and state governments.
  • Explain how the exercise of judicial review in conjunction with life tenure can lead to debate about the legitimacy of the Supreme Court’s power.
  • Explain how other branches in the government can limit the Supreme Court’s power
Opener:  How would you do it?

What do you think every Supreme Court justice should do, or know, prior to hearing any case?  Should they be allowed to discuss cases between themselves before they've heard them?

Activity #2:  Supreme Court - Mock Trial Prep - Role Assignment and Process

Roles:

Attorneys for Gideon x 2
Attorneys for Wainwright x 2
Judges x 9
Court Reporters x ?

  • Each attorney pair will have 10 minutes to present their case to the justices.  
  • This includes the time used by the judges to ask questions and make comments to each side.
  • Judges will then leave the courtroom to discuss and vote.
  • After they have reached a decision, judges will then each provide a paragraph (as either the majority or dissent) that explains the reason for their decision.
  • Reporters will provide a brief 1-2 paragraph article that summarizes the arguments, the judges decision, and at least one quotable phrase from the attorneys and/or the judges.

Activity #3:  Role Prep and Product

Close:  N-50 - Judicial Activism

LD - The practice of the Supreme Court and other federal judges seeking certain types of cases in order to (re)interpret the texts of the Constitution and the laws in a way that serves the judges' own visions regarding the needs of contemporary society.  This is the opposite of "Judicial Restraint", where judges hear cases and issues judgements only within the intentions and limitations of the US Constitution.

SD-

Examples - Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education

Non-Examples - Gibbons v. Ogden, Plessy v. Ferguson


Related Terms - Judicial Review, Checks and Balances, Limited Government

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Day 35 - US SUPREMES!

Learning Targets:  Students will be able to....

  • Explain the principle of judicial review and how it checks the power of other institutions and state governments.
  • Explain how the exercise of judicial review in conjunction with life tenure can lead to debate about the legitimacy of the Supreme Court’s power.
  • Explain how other branches in the government can limit the Supreme Court’s power
Opener:  Who are these people?  


2_clarenceBreyerAlitoRobertsGinsburg



    Activity #1:  Supreme Court Introduction - Mini-lecture
    https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p4pTZVd4ftvV32RHw-Yi0w8PEKT_vUnfk0yaC5XAip0/edit?usp=sharing

    Activity #2:   Document Analysis - ASAP & Questions

    1.  ASAP

    Passages from Federalist #78, Written by Alexander Hamilton, 1788

    "the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution . . . [it] may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments." 

    "For there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the executive and legislative powers."

    2.  TIP-C



    3.  OSAM




    Close:  Answer this question in your notebook:  

    Choose 3 words that you would use to describe the US court system.

    Day 35 - Activism and Restraint "Don't judge judges, unless you know the law and understand why they make the decisions that they...